Hancock Whitney Corp Purchases 215 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,982 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 59.9% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,370,000 after purchasing an additional 10,544 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 9,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 138.0% in the first quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 161,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,874,000 after purchasing an additional 93,664 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 53.5% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, L1 Capital International Pty Ltd increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. L1 Capital International Pty Ltd now owns 40,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,502,000 after purchasing an additional 2,889 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,623.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,268 shares of company stock worth $6,804,285. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. SVB Leerink raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $329.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W upgraded HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.06.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $6.85 during trading on Friday, hitting $356.27. 286,770 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,155,638. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $369.41.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.43 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

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.