New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 334,748 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,924 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.14% of HCA Healthcare worth $115,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company's stock valued at $450,461,000 after purchasing an additional 574,239 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company's stock valued at $318,727,000 after purchasing an additional 489,916 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12,016.0% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 467,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,301,000 after acquiring an additional 463,579 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $404.00 price objective (up from $376.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Barclays set a $416.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:HCA traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $376.39. 213,102 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,455,437. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $375.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $342.25. 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 current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company has a market capitalization of $90.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.47.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. HCA Healthcare's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

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.