HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Sets New 52-Week High at $343.73

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $343.73 and last traded at $343.29, with a volume of 844077 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $340.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Baird R W raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com lowered HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $396.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $89.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $324.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $316.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.92 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,624 shares in the company, valued at $9,387,253.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,544,316. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.88, for a total transaction of $1,999,829.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,387,253.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,397 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,929. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $5,666,569,000 after buying an additional 60,304 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first 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. 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.