Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Decreases Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. reduced its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,519 shares of the company’s stock after selling 109 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HCA. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the second quarter worth about $131,527,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 53.3% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at approximately $95,882,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 30.4% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 721,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,581,000 after acquiring an additional 168,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total transaction of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $3.38 on Tuesday, reaching $407.38. 303,026 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,135,020. The stock has a market cap of $106.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $393.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $351.09.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 553.13%. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.51 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.15.

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.