Paradigm Financial Partners LLC Buys 359 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,030 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $3,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,444,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,425,000 after buying an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after purchasing an additional 37,488 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HCA. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE:HCA traded down $7.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $306.69. 2,257,051 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,051,296. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $323.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $295.45. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The company has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.93 EPS. Equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other 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 value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.