denkapparat Operations GmbH Invests $309,000 in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $840,286,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 62.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,461,000 after acquiring an additional 574,239 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 120.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 873,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,264,000 after purchasing an additional 476,756 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $150,548,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,121,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $341.94 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $323.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.86. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The firm has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released 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 net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is 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.