HCA Healthcare (HCA) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Friday

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) is scheduled to be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Friday, April 26th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $4.92 per share for the quarter. HCA Healthcare has set its FY24 guidance at $19.70-21.20 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance at 19.700-21.200 EPS.Investors that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The company’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.64 EPS. On average, analysts expect HCA Healthcare to post $21 EPS for the current fiscal year and $23 EPS for the next fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $319.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $84.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $324.47 and a 200-day moving average of $293.19. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.91%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 in the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. 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 report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.05.

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.