AGF Management Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

AGF Management Ltd. trimmed its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 8.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,760 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,659 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $25,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after purchasing an additional 60,304 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total value of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total value of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,569,729.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,844 shares of company stock valued at $3,185,932 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $427.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $388.65 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $359.40 and a 200 day moving average of $337.17. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $403.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.48 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

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.