HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $385.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $320.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on HCA. Baird R W cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $384.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim began coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $336.00 price objective (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.47.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE HCA opened at $378.73 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $350.37 and a 200-day moving average of $330.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total value of $5,797,585.36. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,670,420.72. The trade was a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.