Sanctuary Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,680 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $4,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after buying an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,511,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $316.07 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $313.53 and its 200 day moving average is $350.84. The stock has a market cap of $78.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.