Allium Financial Advisors LLC Takes $408,000 Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Key Points

• Allium Financial Advisors LLC invested approximately $408,000 in HCA Healthcare by acquiring 1,180 shares during the first quarter, as disclosed in their recent 13F filing.
• HCA Healthcare reported a quarterly earnings EPS of $6.84, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.64 and generating revenue of $18.61 billion, which is a 6.4% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, to be paid on September 30th, marking a 0.86% yield with a low dividend payout ratio of 12.81%.

Allium Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $408,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HCA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock worth $5,887,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company's stock worth $466,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329,618 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company's stock worth $318,727,000 after acquiring an additional 489,916 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12,016.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 467,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,301,000 after purchasing an additional 463,579 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HCA. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Bank of America lowered HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Truist Financial increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $401.00 target price on HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stephens raised HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $396.46.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of HCA stock traded up $8.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $352.96. 989,102 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,602,237. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 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. The stock has a market cap of $84.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.47. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $372.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.40.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.20 by $0.64. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 7,363.11%. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.50 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.11%.

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.