HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Given New $410.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $355.00 to $410.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $336.00 price target (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays set a $416.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Stephens upgraded HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.47.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $373.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.49. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $355.79 and a 200 day moving average of $332.05.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after purchasing an additional 116,826 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,830,000 after buying an additional 23,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,882,000 after acquiring an additional 50,321 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $878,975,000 after purchasing an additional 19,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $840,286,000. 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.