Kessler Investment Group LLC Sells 1,321 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Kessler Investment Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 7.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,728 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,321 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare comprises about 3.1% of Kessler Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $6,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,069,974,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the second quarter valued at $410,992,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth about $371,138,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,707,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,835,397,000 after acquiring an additional 799,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the second quarter valued at approximately $238,457,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HCA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $402.00 to $387.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $435.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $466.35.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $3.82 on Thursday, reaching $442.99. 346,538 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,342,161. The company has a 50 day moving average of $418.92 and a 200 day moving average of $420.11. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $353.99 and a fifty-two week high of $556.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.10.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.56 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $20.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.76 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 244.79%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th were issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.45%.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc is a provider of healthcare services in the United States. Through its network of hospitals and other healthcare facilities, the company delivers services including emergency and urgent care, surgery, inpatient and outpatient treatment, women’s and children’s care, cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, and behavioral health services.

HCA Healthcare also operates physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency rooms, diagnostic facilities, and other outpatient care sites.