Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Stock Price

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $384.00 to $376.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.34% from the company’s previous close.

HCA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.13.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.6 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $340.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $330.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $331.39. The firm has a market cap of $83.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22 % 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 hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after purchasing an additional 116,826 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,882,000 after purchasing an additional 50,321 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $878,975,000 after purchasing an additional 19,121 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $840,286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.