Strs Ohio Lowers Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,413 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,013 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.06% of HCA Healthcare worth $40,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,812,961 shares of the company's stock worth $1,002,773,000 after buying an additional 64,029 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,800,847 shares of the company's stock worth $701,948,000 after purchasing an additional 347,177 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth $547,104,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,229,190 shares of the company's stock worth $534,917,000 after purchasing an additional 758,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,152,419 shares of the company's stock worth $529,452,000 after purchasing an additional 67,332 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HCA shares. StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $322.54. The stock had a trading volume of 731,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,044,439. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $320.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.13. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $335.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. The firm has a market cap of $85.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.