Private Trust Co. NA Has $282,000 Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Private Trust Co. NA lessened its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 199 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,513,000 after acquiring an additional 231,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.6 %

HCA stock opened at $311.11 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $77.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $315.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $348.80.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of 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 HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.