Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Increases Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 160,447 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,180 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.06% of HCA Healthcare worth $48,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,033,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $840,286,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $297,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,225,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 59,310 shares of the company's stock worth $17,802,000 after buying an additional 2,616 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE HCA traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $347.48. 1,249,318 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,347,916. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $325.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.25. The firm has a market cap of $85.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business earned $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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.