Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Has $416,000 Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,538 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HCA. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 6,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,139,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 90,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,510,000 after buying an additional 2,522 shares during the last quarter. Invera Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at $991,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HCA shares. Barclays assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of 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 reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.47.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE HCA traded up $2.45 during trading on Thursday, hitting $334.14. The stock had a trading volume of 531,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,083,749. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $334.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $309.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.98. The company has a market capitalization of $88.37 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.64. 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 (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.91%.

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.