Waverly Advisors LLC Takes $439,000 Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company's stock worth $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 120,812 shares of the company's stock worth $36,262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,931 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,040 shares of the company's stock worth $5,415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,621 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,913 shares of the company's stock worth $2,975,000 after buying an additional 1,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 23,694 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,175,000 after buying an additional 3,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE HCA traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $378.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,449,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,440,404. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $349.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

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 return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The firm had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.36 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

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