Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Increases HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $359.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective raised by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $330.00 to $359.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HCA. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE HCA opened at $322.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $335.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $320.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.49 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares in the company, valued at $2,385,552. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,385,552. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 over the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after buying an additional 456,738 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,812,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,773,000 after purchasing an additional 64,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,315,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,432,000 after buying an additional 188,377 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About HCA Healthcare

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.