HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded 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 issued to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $310.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $82.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.52. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,086,836,000 after acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after acquiring an additional 170,560 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,890 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $694,985,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,152,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,452,000 after purchasing an additional 67,332 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.