HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Given Overweight Rating at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCAFree Report) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $405.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on HCA. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.19.

View Our Latest Analysis on HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $327.80 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $313.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $353.27. The stock has a market cap of $83.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCAGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 520.98% and a net margin of 8.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 21.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. FMR LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,669,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,842,000 after buying an additional 174,946 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,487,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,511,000 after acquiring an additional 41,190 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,339,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,467,000 after purchasing an additional 143,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 843,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,020,000 after purchasing an additional 193,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

About HCA Healthcare

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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.

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