Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 14,512 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,587 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,512 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare accounts for 0.9% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.05% of HCA Healthcare worth $45,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,498,417,000 after purchasing an additional 116,826 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,351,830,000 after buying an additional 23,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company's stock worth $1,159,882,000 after acquiring an additional 50,321 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company's stock worth $878,975,000 after purchasing an additional 19,121 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $840,286,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of HCA traded down $11.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $373.18. 2,014,591 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,445,117. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company has a market cap of $89.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.49. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $331.71.

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

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Baird R W downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $355.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $416.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $392.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total value 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 represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.