Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires 23,748 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 366,591 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,748 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare makes up about 1.5% of Brandes Investment Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.14% of HCA Healthcare worth $118,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.5% in the second quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 284.0% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 96 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1 %

HCA opened at $403.28 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $409.42. The company has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $378.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $343.05.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 553.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total transaction of $1,440,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total transaction of $1,440,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy.