HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $310.86.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $325.00 to $340.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $311.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. StockNews.com downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $305.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 5,204 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total value of $1,400,500.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,317,811.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 5,204 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total value of $1,400,500.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,317,811.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,916 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $787,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,767,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,620 shares of company stock valued at $2,592,820. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5,225.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,351,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,178,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,406 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth $547,104,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 102.0% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,650,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,108,001,000 after buying an additional 1,843,887 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,039,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,689,226,000 after buying an additional 1,734,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,229,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,917,000 after buying an additional 758,127 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.8 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $256.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.26, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.03. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $178.32 and a fifty-two week high of $304.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $276.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.60.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $4.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $15.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.63 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 9.32% and a negative return on equity of 12,765.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 18.44 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.81%.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides health care services 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.