LPL Financial LLC Purchases 10,777 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 21.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,581 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,777 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $18,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,687 shares of the company's stock worth $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.4% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 3,022 shares of the company's stock worth $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 23,090 shares of the company's stock worth $9,380,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 13,264 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,391,000 after buying an additional 3,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 210.6% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company's stock worth $124,691,000 after acquiring an additional 208,015 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE HCA traded down $16.61 on Friday, reaching $332.53. 2,518,277 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,364,360. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The company has a market cap of $81.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $327.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $339.47. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

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.