Vista Investment Partners II LLC Takes Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Vista Investment Partners II LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,237,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth $39,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HCA shares. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of HCA opened at $330.11 on Monday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $289.98 and a one year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $81.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $316.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.29.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.