HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA), formerly HCA Holdings, Inc., will suspend its quarterly dividend in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year the operator of hospitals and other sites of care hiked its quarterly dividend by 7.5 percent to $0.43 per share.

In today's press release HCA reported its first quarter 2020 results and announced actions to respond to the impact and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the suspension of the quarterly dividend program to enhance its financial flexibility. The company states that it expects to evaluate resumption of the quarterly dividend program at a future date.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. owns and operates hospitals and sites of care, including surgery centers, free standing emergency rooms, urgent care centers and physician clinics in the United States and the United Kingdom. HCA Healthcare is the largest private provider of healthcare in the United States. In addition to its hospitals and other acute care settings, HCA Healthcare operations and services also include CareNow, the Ambulatory Surgery Division, Sarah Cannon Cancer Institutes of HCA Healthcare, HCA Healthcare’s physician practices, Parallon and HealthTrust.