Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 397,019 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.16% of HCA Healthcare worth $161,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on HCA shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.63.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $297.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $348.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $357.51. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $263.22 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.63.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.85%.

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.