Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Stock Price

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price cut by Barclays from $396.00 to $392.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.00.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $358.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $90.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $229.28 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $389.61 and its 200 day moving average is $356.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 11.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after buying an additional 60,304 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 53.3% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 741,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,110,000 after buying an additional 19,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 16.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 631,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,002,000 after acquiring an additional 88,948 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.