Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Increases Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 15.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,858 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,496 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $8,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.5% in the second quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 284.0% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 96 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on HCA shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of HCA opened at $397.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.67. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $404.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $365.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.06.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 553.13%. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,438,494.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total transaction of $659,327.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.