Truist Financial Issues Positive Forecast for HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Stock Price

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price boosted by Truist Financial from $460.00 to $495.00 in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

HCA has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $471.42.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 4.8%

NYSE HCA opened at $468.68 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $416.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $383.23. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $469.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.40.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $6.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.64 by $1.32. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.53% and a negative return on equity of 792.25%. The firm had revenue of $19.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 27.000-28.000 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.13%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total transaction of $1,606,670.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,503 shares in the company, valued at $13,194,716.52. This represents a 10.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth about $1,152,408,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 83.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,416 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 1,872,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,214,000 after purchasing an additional 690,773 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,583,000 after purchasing an additional 587,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $569,217,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently 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.