HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lowered its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,432 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,655 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $4,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth $514,000. Creative Planning grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,333 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,085 shares of the company's stock worth $670,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 368,947 shares of the company's stock worth $118,535,000 after purchasing an additional 5,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 55.8% during the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 949 shares of the company's stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.19.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:HCA opened at $333.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $84.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.12. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $353.09.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced 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 520.98% and a net margin of 8.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 21.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,843 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.