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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on HCA. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Baird R W upgraded HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $326.53.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE HCA opened at $315.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $82.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $325.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $317.82. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $344.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.93 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $303,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at $6,977,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $303,576.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at $6,977,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,397 shares of company stock worth $3,921,929. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth $694,985,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during 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 period. Capital World Investors raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after buying an additional 1,019,750 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 230.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 553,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,747,000 after purchasing an additional 385,854 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.