Shayne & Jacobs LLC Decreases Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Shayne & Jacobs LLC cut its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,611 shares of the company’s stock after selling 430 shares during the quarter. HCA Healthcare makes up about 7.5% of Shayne & Jacobs LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Shayne & Jacobs LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $28,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $333.30 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $314.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $350.33. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The stock has a market cap of $82.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. 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 (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare 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 in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.