HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stake Increased by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 88,969 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $26,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,727,000 after acquiring an additional 489,916 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 839 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares during the last quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 4,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $335.42 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The firm has a market cap of $82.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $327.83 and a 200-day moving average of $335.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $336.00 price target (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.67.

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.