By Colin Kellaher


HCA Healthcare Inc. on Thursday said its board raised the quarterly dividend by 17%, to 56 cents from 48 cents, and increased its share-repurchase program by $8 billion.

The new quarterly payout, equal to $2.24 a year, represents an annual yield of about 0.9% based on Wednesday's closing price of $240, up from 0.8%.

The Nashville, Tenn., healthcare-services company said the increased dividend is payable March 31 to shareholders of record March 17.

HCA, which has about 311 million shares outstanding and a market capitalization of around $74.4 billion, said it bought back nearly 8.5 million shares for $2.07 billion during the fourth quarter, leaving $586 million remaining under its prior repurchase authorization at the end of the year.


Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-27-22 0758ET