HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $335.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Baird R W raised HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $326.53.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $320.30 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $326.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.70. The firm has a market cap of $83.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.68. 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 has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $344.20.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,397,042.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at $6,977,880. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total transaction of $607,673.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,397,042.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,397 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,929 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stokes Family Office LLC lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.5% in the second quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 47.7% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 84,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,057,000 after acquiring an additional 27,200 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40.5% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 18.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.