Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 20,947 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,476,154 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,947 shares during the quarter. HCA Healthcare makes up approximately 2.0% of Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.58% of HCA Healthcare worth $443,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the 3rd 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. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $314.71 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $318.53 and its 200 day moving average is $346.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $77.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its 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 in the previous year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

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.