HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.35 EPS

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35, Briefing.com reports. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.93 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. HCA Healthcare updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.700-21.200 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $19.70-21.20 EPS.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $306.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $81.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $323.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.00. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.