1,600 Shares in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Acquired by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Personal CFO Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $262,000. Ossiam raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 3,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 21,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,813,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 202,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,878,000 after acquiring an additional 101,215 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.1 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $386.36 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $385.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $346.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.67. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $409.42.

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

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,303,912.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. Leerink Partners lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $359.89.

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.