Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $410.99 Million Investment in HCA Healthcare, Inc. $HCA

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,054,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,992,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,069,974,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,566,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,532,563,000 after purchasing an additional 76,039 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,999,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,334,040,000 after buying an additional 40,086 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,663,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,738,000 after acquiring an additional 13,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,262,513,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. TD Cowen decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $500.00 to $431.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $525.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $588.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $462.64.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of HCA stock opened at $428.90 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $353.99 and a 12 month high of $556.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $398.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $442.83. The stock has a market cap of $92.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $7.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.76 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 244.79% and a net margin of 8.77%.HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 10.45%.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company’s core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA’s services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.