Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. Acquires 52 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,054 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,152,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,452,000 after purchasing an additional 67,332 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,150,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,860,000 after purchasing an additional 30,072 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,146,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,025 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,594,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,177,000 after acquiring an additional 57,390 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 605,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,101,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total value of $1,185,327.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $9.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $319.43. 1,151,769 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,090,380. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $324.47 and its 200 day moving average is $293.19.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.64 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

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.