Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Purchases New Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 123,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,198,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.06% of HCA Healthcare at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,069,974,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,566,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,532,563,000 after purchasing an additional 76,039 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,999,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,334,040,000 after purchasing an additional 40,086 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,663,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,738,000 after buying an additional 13,565 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth $1,262,513,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $500.00 to $431.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $450.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $490.00 to $425.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $462.64.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA opened at $419.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.10. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $353.99 and a 1-year high of $556.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $400.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.63.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.76 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 244.79%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.84 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.45%.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare is a for?profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company’s core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA’s services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.