LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Acquires 7,323 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 38.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,199 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,323 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $7,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company's stock worth $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company's stock valued at $660,842,000 after buying an additional 174,946 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company's stock worth $604,511,000 after acquiring an additional 41,190 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $544,467,000 after acquiring an additional 143,995 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company's stock valued at $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:HCA traded up $4.81 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $311.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,413,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,731,940. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $77.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, 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 quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business's 50 day moving average is $315.15 and its 200-day moving average is $349.23.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on HCA. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.67.

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.