Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lowered its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,034 shares of the company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $11,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,470.4% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 12,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,667,000 after acquiring an additional 11,440 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 470,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,236,000 after acquiring an additional 220,512 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 7,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,218,000 after buying an additional 2,362 shares during the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $29,846,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at $944,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.5 %

HCA stock opened at $335.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $82.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $327.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.63. 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 results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on HCA. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.67.

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.