Kathryn A. Torres Sells 973 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at $6,977,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA traded up $2.30 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $310.06. The stock had a trading volume of 747,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,095,870. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. 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 50-day simple moving average is $321.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.27. The company has a market cap of $81.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $316.59.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 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.