National Bank of Canada FI Grows Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 9.5%, purchasing an additional 14,848 shares, bringing its total ownership to about 171,310 shares worth approximately $59.2 million.
• Several analysts have adjusted their price targets for HCA Healthcare, with Truist Financial raising theirs to $415.00, while Barclays lowered it to $390.00, indicating a mix of confidence and caution among market experts.
• HCA Healthcare announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, which will be paid on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.8%.

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 9.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 171,310 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,848 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.07% of HCA Healthcare worth $59,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 326,573 shares of the company's stock valued at $112,847,000 after purchasing an additional 31,976 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.9% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 7,899 shares of the company's stock worth $2,729,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth $340,000. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth $5,675,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 117.4% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 64,990 shares of the company's stock worth $22,457,000 after acquiring an additional 35,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HCA shares. Stephens upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $410.00 to $400.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA traded up $8.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $381.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,015,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,209. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $369.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $349.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $89.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.39. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

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.