Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 49,968 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 117.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,495 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,968 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $27,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 1,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 84,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,289,000 after purchasing an additional 5,756 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 56,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,982,000 after buying an additional 5,650 shares during the period. Finally, Global View Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $372,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of HCA stock opened at $313.49 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $77.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $318.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.27.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

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.