State of Wyoming Acquires 918 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 199.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,379 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. State of Wyoming's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $414,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 62.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company's stock worth $450,461,000 after acquiring an additional 574,239 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 85.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company's stock valued at $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consulta Ltd lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Consulta Ltd now owns 550,000 shares of the company's stock worth $165,082,000 after buying an additional 275,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 price objective (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Baird R W downgraded HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $376.86. 1,138,192 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,441,874. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $346.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.12. The company has a market cap of $90.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.36 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

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.