HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives $313.88 Average PT from Analysts

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $316.59.

Several research analysts have weighed in on HCA shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $307.76 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $81.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $322.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $297.73.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,127 shares of company stock worth $2,218,364. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $694,985,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,152,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,452,000 after acquiring an additional 67,332 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.