HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $319.43 on Monday. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $293.19. The firm has a market cap of $84.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,085,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $1,100,000. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 623.3% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 37,488 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.