HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc cut its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 22.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 160,879 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,500 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $61,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 83.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $829,104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,416 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,583,000 after acquiring an additional 587,036 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 1st quarter worth approximately $569,217,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329,618 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 880,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,888 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $444.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $422.31.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $414.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $405.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $375.85. The company has a market capitalization of $97.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $439.01.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.20 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 7,363.11% and a net margin of 8.21%.HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.50 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.500-27.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total transaction of $1,606,670.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,194,716.52. This trade represents a 10.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.