Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 116,075 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,329 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $34,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,842,000 after acquiring an additional 174,946 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,511,000 after purchasing an additional 41,190 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 12.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after buying an additional 143,995 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 53.3% in the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $396.00 to $392.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.27.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $310.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $317.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $352.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $278.50 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 11.85%.

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.