SouthState Corp Grows Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

SouthState Corp lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1,211.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,778 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,490 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $1,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $136,000. Gallacher Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 1,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 39,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,724,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:HCA opened at $328.73 on Tuesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $319.64 and a 200-day moving average of $344.49.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.90 earnings per share. Analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

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.