HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by GTS Securities LLC

GTS Securities LLC lowered its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 96.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 930 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,455 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company's stock worth $3,498,417,000 after acquiring an additional 116,826 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company's stock worth $1,351,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company's stock worth $1,159,882,000 after acquiring an additional 50,321 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company's stock worth $878,975,000 after acquiring an additional 19,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price objective (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Baird R W downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Thursday. 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.47.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE HCA traded up $2.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $381.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,556,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,440,469. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The company has a market capitalization of $91.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G 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. The firm's 50 day moving average is $351.28 and its 200 day moving average is $330.31.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total value of $5,797,585.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.