Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 5,838 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Bell Asset Management Ltd reduced its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,316 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,838 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $5,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth approximately $569,217,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 83.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,416 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,583,000 after purchasing an additional 587,036 shares during the period. Abdiel Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth approximately $164,835,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter valued at $109,337,000. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $495.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $485.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $412.00 to $431.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $474.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael R. Mcalevey sold 3,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.79, for a total value of $1,843,990.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,105.73. This trade represents a 52.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total value of $1,606,670.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,503 shares in the company, valued at $13,194,716.52. The trade was a 10.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of HCA stock opened at $514.67 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $520.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $447.58 and a 200-day moving average of $404.31. The firm has a market cap of $117.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.41.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $6.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.64 by $1.32. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 792.25% and a net margin of 8.53%.The business had revenue of $19.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 27.000-28.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.13%.

About HCA Healthcare

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.