HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 396,391 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,016 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $127,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HCA. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 180.3% in the 2nd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 5,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 3,429 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 6.1% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 76,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,578,000 after buying an additional 4,409 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 91.1% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $396.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $356.17.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $395.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $348.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $332.96. The company has a market cap of $103.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $395.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.43 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,623.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,844 shares of company stock valued at $3,185,932 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare 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.