HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on HCA. Guggenheim assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Stephens raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $336.00 target price (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays set a $416.00 target price on HCA Healthcare and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 1.4%

HCA stock opened at $372.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $89.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.47. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $289.98 and a twelve month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $371.55 and a 200-day moving average of $339.38.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 1,063.91% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 12.81%.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,887,850,000 after buying an additional 1,699,713 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at approximately $569,217,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,815,000 after buying an additional 1,329,618 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 83.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $829,104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,416 shares during the period. 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.