Natixis Raises Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Natixis grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 51.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 128,586 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,628 shares during the period. Natixis owned about 0.05% of HCA Healthcare worth $38,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 1,039 shares of the company's stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company's stock worth $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,195 shares of the company's stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HCA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Baird R W lowered HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $381.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business'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. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $4.55 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $340.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,377,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,387,651. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $329.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.15. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio 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.