Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys Shares of 12,419 HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. has invested $4.29 million in HCA Healthcare, acquiring 12,419 shares, as disclosed in their recent SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in HCA Healthcare, including GAMMA Investing LLC, which raised its holdings by 40,527.3% to over $5.8 billion.
• HCA Healthcare reported earnings of $6.84 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 to be paid to shareholders of record on September 16th.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,291,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,021,000. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 11,397 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,033 shares of the company's stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 129,864 shares of the company's stock worth $38,979,000 after buying an additional 39,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company's stock worth $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on HCA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Stephens upgraded HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $385.00 to $375.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $404.00 to $401.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.58.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $404.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,081,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,431,386. The business's 50 day moving average price is $373.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $353.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $94.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.39.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 7,363.11% and a net margin of 8.21%.The company had revenue of $18.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.500-27.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is 12.11%.

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.