Kathryn A. Torres Sells 973 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $314.44 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $321.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $82.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.74 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders 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 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.6% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,090,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 9.4% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 61,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,132 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 43,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.59.

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.