HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Now Covered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $427.00 price target on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $392.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, August 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $387.89 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $355.43 and a 200 day moving average of $335.92. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $403.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 22.5 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,912.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at $14,569,729.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,303,912.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,844 shares of company stock worth $3,185,932 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $694,985,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,750 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the second quarter worth about $131,527,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.