Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,018 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $11,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,842,000 after acquiring an additional 174,946 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,511,000 after acquiring an additional 41,190 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after acquiring an additional 143,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,149,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,590 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE HCA opened at $336.60 on Tuesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $317.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.96. 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 $82.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.