HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Rating)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $283.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.90% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $265.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $217.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Cowen boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $238.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $235.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.41.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $250.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $69.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $164.47 and a 12-month high of $279.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.73.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The company reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.79 by ($0.15). HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 1,260.96% and a net margin of 9.37%. The company had revenue of $15.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 17.16 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 27th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 1,734 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.61, for a total transaction of $457,099.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,626,082.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 1,734 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.61, for a total transaction of $457,099.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,626,082.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.30, for a total value of $1,241,170.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,204,893.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 79,899 shares of company stock valued at $20,460,494. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,039,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,689,226,000 after buying an additional 1,734,194 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,616,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,107,862,000 after buying an additional 116,442 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,800,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,948,000 after buying an additional 347,177 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,798,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,299,000 after buying an additional 293,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 156.3% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,675,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631,598 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.60% of the company’s stock.

About HCA Healthcare

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HCA Healthcare, Inc is a health care services company engaged in operating hospitals, freestanding surgery centers and emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, physician practices, home health, hospice, outpatient physical therapy home and community-based services providers, and various other facilities.