Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 26,584 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,283,368 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,584 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.51% of HCA Healthcare worth $385,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 2.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company's stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company's stock worth $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HCA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $15.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $305.79. 3,469,113 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,740,103. The stock has a market cap of $75.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $349.39. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare 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.