Calamos Advisors LLC Has $14.67 Million Stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,187 shares of the company’s stock after selling 708 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $14,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 92.9% during the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. 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. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $7.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.39. 326,070 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,070,720. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $320.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.94.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS 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 business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.64 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.91%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.