HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,283,368 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,584 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $385,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 31.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,285 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $150,548,000. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,044,000. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $869,000. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,896,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % 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. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $319.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $79.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $314.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $350.12. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

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.