Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 178,478 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,135 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $53,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $335.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $353.59.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.89 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their price target on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target 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. Raymond James lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

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.