GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other large investors have also 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 in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the last quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 37,488 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on HCA shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $314.12 on Friday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83. The company has a market capitalization of $83.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $324.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.45. 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 (NYSE:HCA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.64 earnings per share. The business’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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.