HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) PT Raised to $378.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $329.00 to $378.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Baird R W raised HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an outperform rating and a $396.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $339.72.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $354.78 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $356.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $323.02.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 22.38 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total value of $607,673.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,397,042.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total transaction of $607,673.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,612 shares in the company, valued at $6,397,042.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.88, for a total value of $1,999,829.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,624 shares in the company, valued at $9,387,253.12. 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 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,636,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth $361,000. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 226,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,326,000 after purchasing an additional 33,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 365,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,065,000 after purchasing an additional 138,146 shares during 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.