HCA Healthcare’s (HCA) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

by · The Markets Daily

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $392.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set an equal weight rating and a $427.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $359.89.

Read Our Latest Research Report on HCA

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of HCA stock opened at $392.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $383.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.06. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $409.42. The firm has a market cap of $102.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.67.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.29 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 22.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total transaction of $1,440,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,912.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after buying an additional 60,304 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after buying an additional 170,560 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after buying an additional 1,183,890 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,342,000 after buying an additional 1,019,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,474,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,047,000 after purchasing an additional 156,757 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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