2,799,553 Shares in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,799,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $840,286,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.11% of HCA Healthcare as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth $297,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,225,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 59,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,802,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 294,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,407,000 after purchasing an additional 18,672 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $341.94 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $323.90 and a 200-day moving average of $341.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G 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.

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, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

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.