LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Purchases 7,323 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 38.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,199 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,323 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $7,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. FMR LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Group LP purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,513,000 after purchasing an additional 231,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 43,546.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 223,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,074,000 after purchasing an additional 222,956 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock opened at $305.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $315.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $349.23. The company has a market capitalization of $75.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.94%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

HCA Healthcare 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.