Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,842,000 after purchasing an additional 174,946 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,511,000 after acquiring an additional 41,190 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after buying an additional 143,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 843,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,020,000 after purchasing an additional 193,075 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.6 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $336.93 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $313.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $353.69. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a market capitalization of $85.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.02%.

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.