Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Sells 68 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. trimmed its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,451 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,513,000 after acquiring an additional 231,492 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 210.6% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,691,000 after purchasing an additional 208,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 843,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,020,000 after purchasing an additional 193,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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 price objective 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $336.93 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The company has a market cap of $85.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $313.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $353.57.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This represents 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 company insiders.

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.