HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Argent Advisors Inc.

Argent Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,018,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 78.9% during the fourth quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,021 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 29,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,785,000 after purchasing an additional 3,383 shares during the period. SouthState Corp raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1,211.8% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 3,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490 shares during the period. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $136,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $328.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $80.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $319.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $344.49.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share 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. 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. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 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.