First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 4,756 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 169.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,563 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $2,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. abrdn plc increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,085,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $1,100,000. DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,425,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its position 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 purchasing 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 HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare 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 approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,779 shares of company stock worth $2,421,814. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $1.61 during trading on Thursday, hitting $311.05. 99,563 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,091,247. The company has a market cap of $82.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.96 and a 1 year high of $335.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $323.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $296.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on HCA. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of 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 report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial boosted 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. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.59.

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.