HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Lifted 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 report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded 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 report on Thursday, January 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA traded down $1.08 on Thursday, hitting $307.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,044,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,189,320. The stock has a market cap of $81.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $322.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.73. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,127 shares of company stock worth $2,218,364 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 19.2% in the first quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $1,966,000. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $210,000. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6.4% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 3,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 24.3% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.