Insider Selling: HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) EVP Sells 1,600 Shares of Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,544,316. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA traded down $5.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $309.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,023,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,096,014. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.85. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66.

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

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

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

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HCA. Truist Financial increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.59.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 2,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. 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.