HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Shares Down 0.9%

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) shares traded down 0.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $310.15 and last traded at $311.03. 1,511,037 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the average session volume of 1,058,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $313.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 4.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $78.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 92.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. 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.