Cornerstone Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Key Points

• Cornerstone Advisors LLC significantly reduced its stake in HCA Healthcare by 73.4%, now holding only 3,800 shares after selling 10,500 shares in the first quarter.
• HCA Healthcare reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $6.84, surpassing estimates, and a revenue of $18.61 billion, which is a 6.4% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.8% and a payout ratio of 12.11%.

Cornerstone Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 73.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,800 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,500 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,630 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,600,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the company's stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,931 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,314 shares of the company's stock worth $1,491,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 145.3% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,550 shares of the company's stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.3%

HCA stock traded up $8.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $381.84. 1,015,992 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,587,259. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The firm's 50 day moving average is $369.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $349.15. The stock has a market cap of $89.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 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.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.20 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 7,363.11%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on HCA shares. Stephens upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America lowered shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $385.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $416.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $395.69.

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.