Norges Bank Makes New $840.29 Million Investment in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,799,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $840,286,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.11% of HCA Healthcare at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on HCA shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.67.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded up $1.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $347.06. 280,237 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,643,080. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $325.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.60. The company has a market cap of $85.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

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.