Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA)

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $335.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 2.66% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $396.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.53.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 2.1 %

HCA stock opened at $326.31 on Tuesday. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $344.20. 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 company has a market capitalization of $85.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.93 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,977,880. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jeffrey E. Cohen sold 1,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.00, for a total value of $516,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,622,905. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,397 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,929 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after purchasing an additional 60,304 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings 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. Finally, 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 acquiring an additional 1,019,750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.