Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Boosts Stock Position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 279.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,902 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 284.0% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 96 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $397.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $365.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.06. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $404.90. The company has a market capitalization of $104.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a PEG ratio of 1.46 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued 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 0.66%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at $14,569,729.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total transaction of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.