GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Takes $1.40 Million Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,395,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 571,975 shares of the company's stock worth $232,467,000 after acquiring an additional 104,409 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $1,021,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 57.2% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,608 shares of the company's stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth about $115,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,225 shares of the company's stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Baird R W downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $336.00 target price (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:HCA traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $378.35. The stock had a trading volume of 921,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,440,369. The business's 50 day moving average is $348.50 and its 200 day moving average is $329.62. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The stock has a market cap of $91.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is 12.81%.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.