Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 1,462 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 19.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,992 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,462 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $3,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 1,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,195 shares of the company's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Barden Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.4% during the first quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,921 shares of the company's stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Baird R W lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price target (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price objective on HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $392.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded up $3.50 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $372.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,334,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,457,072. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business's 50-day moving average price is $359.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $333.52. The firm has a market cap of $89.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.49.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 1,063.91% and a net margin of 8.07%. HCA Healthcare'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 firm earned $5.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.81%.

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.