HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $245.05.

A number of research firms recently commented on HCA. SVB Leerink boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $238.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Mizuho boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $242.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare to $240.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $240.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on HCA Healthcare from $255.00 to $235.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total value of $406,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,141,627.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $406,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,141,627.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 8,332 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.58, for a total value of $1,854,536.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,048,322.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,170 shares of company stock worth $6,700,630 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the first quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,746,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,652,853,000 after acquiring an additional 298,323 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 7.2% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,305,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $975,198,000 after buying an additional 354,202 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,800,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $701,948,000 after buying an additional 347,177 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,798,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,299,000 after purchasing an additional 293,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 156.3% in the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,675,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,616,000 after buying an additional 1,631,598 shares during the period. 64.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $250.40 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $235.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.32. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $164.47 and a one year high of $279.02. The stock has a market cap of $70.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 21st. The company reported $3.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.04. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.99% and a negative return on equity of 118,372.40%. The firm had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 16.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 14th were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 13th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 12.66%.

About HCA Healthcare

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HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides health care services company in the United States. The company 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.