State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Trims Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury reduced its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,920 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,866 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $21,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $381.67.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:HCA opened at $324.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $328.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $333.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. 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.

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