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

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $316.59.

Several equities analysts have commented on HCA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,455 shares of company stock valued at $2,008,700 over the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $310.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $321.84 and its 200 day moving average is $298.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

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

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

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.