HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $385.67.

Several research firms recently commented on HCA. Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $333.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $320.98 and its 200 day moving average is $343.89. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 1,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 10,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.