California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System dramatically increased its HCA Healthcare stake by 38,348.7% in the second quarter, purchasing 88.9 million additional shares and bringing its holdings to 89.1 million shares, valued at approximately $34.8 billion.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 14 Buy, eight Hold, and one Sell rating. HCA has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $462.64, despite several recent target-price reductions.
• HCA exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $7.59 in adjusted earnings per share and $20.23 billion in revenue, up 8.7% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, representing a 0.8% yield.

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 38,348.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,141,330 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 88,909,485 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 41.17% of HCA Healthcare worth $34,755,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 2,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 749 shares of the company's stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 300 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Anchyra Partners LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.7% in the first quarter. Anchyra Partners LLC now owns 587 shares of the company's stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,908 shares of the company's stock worth $1,833,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $535.00 to $495.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $500.00 to $431.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $635.00 to $579.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $450.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $462.64.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA opened at $404.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $403.59 and a 200-day moving average of $435.91. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $353.99 and a fifty-two week high of $556.52. The company has a market capitalization of $87.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.10.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.56 by $0.03. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 244.79%. The business had revenue of $20.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.84 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is currently 10.45%.

HCA Healthcare Profile

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company's core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA's services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.

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