Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Trims Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,635 shares of the company’s stock after selling 763 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $17,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 1,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA opened at $342.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $84.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $324.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $341.25. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

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.