Diversified Trust Co, a financial institution that provides asset management services from Nashville, Tennessee, has informed the SEC that it lowered its stake in healthcare provider HCA Healthcare by 6.6% during the first quarter of 2023. According to the firm’s quarterly Form 13F filing with the US regulatory agency, Diversified Trust owned 42,295 shares in the company worth $11.15m after liquidating 2,971 shares over this period.
HCA Healthcare recently declared a dividend of $0.60 per share payable to shareholders on record as of Friday 16 June in confirmation of its strong financial position and healthy dividend payout ratio of 12.04%. This announcement comes amid good news for HCA from several financial analysts who recently confirmed their investment recommendations.
Overall they were positive on their rating, with one analyst suggesting investors could sell HCA Healthcare’s stock while two stated investors should hold and fifteen advised purchasing shares or giving a strong buy rating.
Moreover, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Royal Bank of Canada upped their price targets on HCA Healthcare’s stock.
Although currently carrying an average target price of $298.17 according to Bloomberg data sources, Loop Capital had adjusted upwards its target range from $285 to $320 for HCA Healthcare due to increased confidence in future growth prospects for the firm.
Hailed by some commentators as undisputed leaders in many aspects of private sector healthcare provision nationally within the US, it is perhaps unsurprising that investor interest remains high despite global geopolitical uncertainties impacting numerous other industries over recent years. Indeed it seems existing holders remain confident enough to continue holding shares even as others liquidate small stakes.
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What does appear clear is that HCA Healthcare may well be reaping rewards from proactive steps taken in recent years toward measures such as sustainability planning – enabling stronger relations with stakeholders including customers and investors alike – ultimately helping bolster this success story in a challenging global business environment.
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Investor Interest Grows in HCA Healthcare as Institutional Investors Boost Stakes and Insider Selling Occurs
The healthcare industry has been the subject of intense interest from investors and financial analysts in recent years. This is particularly true for HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA), which has experienced significant growth in its stock price and investor interest over the past several months. In addition to strong earnings and revenue performance, HCA Healthcare has attracted a number of institutional investors and hedge funds, including Price T Rowe Associates, First Eagle Investment Management, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership, Norges Bank, and Morgan Stanley.
According to recently released data, these institutional investors have either added to or reduced their stakes in HCA Healthcare over the past several months. Price T Rowe Associates boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 32.7%, while First Eagle Investment Management lifted its stake by 2.6%. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings by 14.1% during Q1 of 2023; Norges Bank purchased a new stake; and Morgan Stanley increased its position by 51.5%.
At the same time, senior vice presidents P. Martin Paslick and Kathryn A. Torres sold a combined total of over 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in April at prices ranging from $265 to $288 per share. Despite this insider selling activity – which has amounted to a total value of more than $3.5 million over the past ninety days – corporate insiders still own only 1.60% of HCA Healthcare’s outstanding stock.
In addition to these market trends and insider activities, HCA Healthcare recently announced that it will pay a quarterly dividend on June 30th to shareholders of record on June 16th. The dividend payout will be $0.60 per share for those holding onto their shares; this represents an annualized yield rate of .83%.
With a twelve-month low of $164.47 and a high of $296.89 per share (opening Monday at $290.08), HCA Healthcare has a market cap of nearly $80 billion and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.55, along with a debt-to-equity ratio of 157.23. The company reported an impressive $4.93 EPS for Q1, beating consensus estimates by $0.94, while revenue grew 4.3% on a year-over-year basis.
These recent developments suggest that HCA Healthcare is poised for continued growth and success in the healthcare sector, and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year unfolds for this dynamic company.