Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Buys 823 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 44.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,666 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock worth $5,887,850,000 after buying an additional 1,699,713 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 62.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company's stock worth $450,461,000 after buying an additional 574,239 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company's stock worth $318,727,000 after buying an additional 489,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12,016.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 467,437 shares of the company's stock worth $140,301,000 after buying an additional 463,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HCA. Guggenheim began coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price target on HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $404.00 price target (up from $376.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Baird R W lowered HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $2.56 on Friday, hitting $375.76. The stock had a trading volume of 877,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,459,427. The stock has a market cap of $90.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.47. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business's 50 day moving average is $374.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.23.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 1,063.91% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.36 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

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.