GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 5,196 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 402.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,486 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,196 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company's stock worth $5,666,569,000 after buying an additional 60,304 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after buying an additional 1,183,890 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company's stock worth $931,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,474,238 shares of the company's stock worth $399,047,000 after purchasing an additional 156,757 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total transaction of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $394.07 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $384.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $345.72. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $409.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.29 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is 13.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $359.89.

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.

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