Ally Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1,470.4% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 12,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,667,000 after purchasing an additional 11,440 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 470,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,236,000 after buying an additional 220,512 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 47.0% in the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 7,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,362 shares in the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $29,846,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at about $944,000. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction 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. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA opened at $331.41 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $335.60. The firm has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS 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 prior year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.67.

HCA Healthcare 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.