Carret Asset Management LLC Has $2.68 Million Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Carret Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,905 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 11,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,993. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,993. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1 %

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $319.14. The stock had a trading volume of 835,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,087,382. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $335.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $324.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.19.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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 issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HCA. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.05.

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.