Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 2,279 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Cooke & Bieler LP cut its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 137,473 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,279 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 0.05% of HCA Healthcare worth $41,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HCA. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $336.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $82.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $317.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.96. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.