HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $325.59.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.5 %

HCA opened at $340.65 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $313.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $89.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.69. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $343.53.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $303,576.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.88, for a total transaction of $1,999,829.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,387,253.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,397 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,929. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 33.9% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth about $719,000. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 624.4% during the third quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 7,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,306 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth $11,708,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 64.0% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. 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.