HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Short Interest Down 7.9% in December

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,400,000 shares, a drop of 7.9% from the December 15th total of 4,780,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.27.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.4 %

HCA Healthcare stock traded up $1.16 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $310.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,206,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,158,913. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $316.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.19. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $278.50 and a 52-week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.85%.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,579. This trade represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,842,000 after purchasing an additional 174,946 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,511,000 after purchasing an additional 41,190 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after acquiring an additional 143,995 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 53.3% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Company 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.