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

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $313.88.

Several brokerages have recently commented on HCA. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock opened at $311.42 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $323.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $295.56. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83. The firm has a market cap of $82.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.93 earnings per share. Analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 link. Also, 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 owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter worth approximately $206,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 5.8% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,090,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 37,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,280,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.