SVB Wealth LLC Takes Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,003,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 105,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,715,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 43,546.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 223,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,074,000 after purchasing an additional 222,956 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 78,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $311.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $315.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $348.80.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. KeyCorp lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target 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. Raymond James downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s 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. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.