Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Lowers Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $1,021,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 17.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.5% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,491,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 13,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,627,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.4% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 76,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $441.08 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $412.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $380.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.40. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $443.41.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on HCA. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $370.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Wolfe Research lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $404.00 to $401.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $437.19.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total transaction of $1,606,670.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,194,716.52. This trade represents a 10.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.