Nuveen Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,865,771 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,105 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.74% of HCA Healthcare worth $560,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,830,000 after buying an additional 23,177 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,882,000 after buying an additional 50,321 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth $840,286,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock opened at $366.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm has a market cap of $88.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $328.35.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The firm had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.81%.

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.