HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Purchased by Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda.

Key Points

• Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. by 475.6% in Q1, making it the firm’s 13th largest holding at a value of $1.56 million.
• HCA Healthcare reported $6.84 earnings per share, exceeding estimates and showing a 6.4% revenue increase year-over-year despite negative return on equity.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.8% with a dividend payout ratio of 12.11%.

Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 475.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,513 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,729 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare comprises approximately 1.0% of Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,346 shares of the company's stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $540,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 209,687 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,938,000 after acquiring an additional 26,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 794 shares of the company's stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price target (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Baird R W lowered HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $395.69.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA traded up $2.27 on Wednesday, reaching $366.08. 1,125,177 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,614,266. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.39. 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $370.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $348.16.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $5,797,585.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.