Paradigm Financial Partners LLC Boosts Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,030 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $3,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares in the last quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 37,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on HCA. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Raymond James lifted 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $7.43 on Friday, reaching $306.69. 2,257,051 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,051,296. The firm has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $323.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $295.45. 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 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

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.