HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Increased to $345.00 by Analysts at Oppenheimer

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price raised by Oppenheimer from $330.00 to $345.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut HCA Healthcare from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $313.88.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $311.42 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $323.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.56. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total value of $1,185,327.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth approximately $694,985,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,772,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,815,000 after purchasing an additional 936,823 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,086,836,000 after acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 230.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 553,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,747,000 after acquiring an additional 385,854 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is 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.