ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Buys Shares of 16,421 HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased 16,421 shares of HCA Healthcare, valued at approximately $5.7 million, as part of their first-quarter investment activities.
• Institutional ownership of HCA Healthcare is high, with various hedge funds making significant increases in their positions, including GAMMA Investing LLC which raised its holdings by over 40,000%.
• HCA Healthcare recently reported earnings per share of $6.84, exceeding estimates, with revenues of $18.61 billion indicating a year-over-year growth of 6.4%.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,675,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,887,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699,713 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $466,815,000 after buying an additional 1,329,618 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 49.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $615,583,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company's stock valued at $318,727,000 after buying an additional 489,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12,016.0% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 467,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,301,000 after buying an additional 463,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens upgraded HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $416.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $395.69.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $373.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.39. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $369.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.72.

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

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is 12.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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