abrdn plc Sells 64,642 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

abrdn plc reduced its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 216,601 shares of the company’s stock after selling 64,642 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned about 0.09% of HCA Healthcare worth $64,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 23,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,175,000 after buying an additional 3,495 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,851 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 11,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,402,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $335.31 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $313.52 and a 200-day moving average of $353.59. The company has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.02%.

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.