Cannell & Spears LLC Sells 980 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,413 shares of the company's stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $13,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HCA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.67.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock traded up $1.75 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $347.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,249,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,916. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. 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's 50 day simple moving average is $325.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $340.25. The company has a market capitalization of $85.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

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

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.