HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 433,414 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,932 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $117,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.88.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE:HCA traded down $7.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $306.69. 2,257,051 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,051,296. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $323.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.00. The firm has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.