Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 1,279 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lowered its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,894 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,279 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 92.9% in the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of HCA stock opened at $327.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $86.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $319.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $311.47.

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.