Private Advisor Group LLC Raises Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 28.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,354 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 972 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $39,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare 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 value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of HCA stock traded up $4.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $311.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,218,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,722,048. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $315.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $349.23.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is presently 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.