HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1 %

HCA stock opened at $319.14 on Monday. 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 capitalization of $84.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $324.43 and a 200-day moving average of $293.84. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

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

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has authorized 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 leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,259,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,037,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6.0% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.