HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Bought by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 62.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 574,239 shares during the quarter. HCA Healthcare comprises approximately 1.1% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $450,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. Bank of America reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of HCA stock opened at $334.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $82.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $343.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

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.