Argent Trust Co Boosts Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Argent Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,456 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 1,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,153,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased 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. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of HCA opened at $335.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $327.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $337.04.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the company earned $5.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.