Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada cut its HCA Healthcare stake by 14% in the first quarter, selling 144,678 shares and retaining 886,505 shares valued at approximately $419.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 62.73% of the company.
• HCA Healthcare exceeded quarterly expectations with $7.59 in adjusted EPS and $20.23 billion in revenue, up 8.7% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, representing a 0.7% yield.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, but several firms lowered their price targets. Concerns include potential payer-mix and reimbursement pressure, regulatory issues, and an announced investor investigation.

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 14.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 886,505 shares of the company's stock after selling 144,678 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.40% of HCA Healthcare worth $419,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth $1,021,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 630 shares of the company's stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth approximately $2,073,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 56.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 136,589 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,328,000 after acquiring an additional 49,214 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on HCA shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $535.00 to $495.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $402.00 to $387.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $435.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $635.00 to $579.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $465.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 7.3%

Shares of HCA opened at $417.94 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $339.82 and a 52-week high of $556.52. The company has a market capitalization of $92.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $386.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.53.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.56 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $20.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.76 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 244.79% and a net margin of 8.77%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.84 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.21 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.45%.

Key Stories Impacting HCA Healthcare

Here are the key news stories impacting HCA Healthcare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HCA reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $7.59 per share, narrowly exceeding the $7.56 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 8.7% year over year to $20.23 billion and surpassed expectations. The earnings beat and strong revenue growth likely supported investor confidence in the hospital operator. Almost all of HCA’s Affordable Care Act patients are going uninsured. Here’s how that affected Q2
• Positive Sentiment: Despite lowering its price target from $525 to $475, Mizuho maintained an “outperform” rating, indicating it still sees meaningful upside for HCA after the post-earnings reassessment. Mizuho HCA price-target update
• Positive Sentiment: HCA declared a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 16. The dividend provides ongoing shareholder return, although its indicated yield is relatively modest. HCA dividend announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: HCA appointed new hospital leadership, naming Jordan Fulkerson chief financial officer of HCA Florida Memorial Hospital and promoting a new chief executive for two Tampa-area hospitals. The changes are unlikely to materially affect near-term valuation. Jordan Fulkerson named CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms reduced HCA price targets following the quarterly report. Oppenheimer, Truist, KeyCorp, Barclays and Baird all lowered their targets, suggesting analysts remain concerned about the outlook even though most retained positive or neutral ratings. HCA analysts slash forecasts after Q2 results
• Negative Sentiment: Nearly all of HCA’s Affordable Care Act patients reportedly became uninsured, raising concerns about payer mix, uncompensated care and reimbursement pressure. ACA patient coverage impact
• Negative Sentiment: Dogwood notified North Carolina officials that HCA may be in “potential noncompliance” with its Mission Hospital sale contract, adding regulatory and operational risk. Mission Hospital sale contract concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of HCA investors. The announcement may add legal overhang, although it does not establish wrongdoing. Pomerantz investor alert

HCA Healthcare Profile

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company's core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA's services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.

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