Barclays Boosts HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $367.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price upped by Barclays from $356.00 to $367.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on HCA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $309.44 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $323.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $296.64. The firm has a market cap of $81.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.93 EPS. Analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares in the company, valued at $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,779 shares of company stock worth $2,421,814. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mckinley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,048,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 5,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 7.7% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,594,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.