Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,474,238 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 156,757 shares during the period. HCA Healthcare makes up about 1.1% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.56% of HCA Healthcare worth $399,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HCA shares. Barclays increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 34,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,544,316. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,617 shares of company stock worth $4,321,986. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of HCA stock traded down $2.76 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $337.47. 747,441 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 935,055. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.69. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $343.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $320.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $313.21.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.92 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

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.