New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,664 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,665 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.07% of HCA Healthcare worth $58,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 26.9% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the company's stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.5% during the first 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 17.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,931 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.2% in the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,049 shares of the company's stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA traded down $5.75 on Wednesday, reaching $383.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,457,823. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The stock's 50-day moving average is $369.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on HCA. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price target (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Baird R W cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays set a $416.00 target price on HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $395.71.

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.