HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Raised 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 published on Monday morning.

HCA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $314.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $324.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.45. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The stock has a market cap of $83.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.