Caxton Associates LP Reduces Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Caxton Associates LP reduced its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 33.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,844 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,444 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price target (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE:HCA traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $353.85. 979,511 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,405,867. The business's 50-day moving average price is $335.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $328.30. The company has a market cap of $85.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. 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 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. The firm had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The company's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is currently 12.81%.

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 value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.30% 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.