HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $19.70-21.20 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $20.60. The company issued revenue guidance of $67.75-70.25 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $69.06 billion. HCA Healthcare also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.700-21.200 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.4 %

HCA stock opened at $306.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $323.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $295.00.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. Company insiders own 1.60% 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.