HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Waverton Investment Management Ltd

Waverton Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,140 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,242 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd's holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $33,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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 decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was 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 accessible through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of HCA traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $320.55. 1,788,584 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,694,602. The firm has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $314.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $350.12. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 period last year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is 13.11%.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.