HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Cut to $360.00 by Analysts at TD Cowen

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective reduced by TD Cowen from $371.00 to $360.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on HCA. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:HCA traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $307.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,044,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,099,878. The firm has a market cap of $81.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $322.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.17. HCA Healthcare has a twelve month low of $215.96 and a twelve month high of $335.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

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

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,127 shares of company stock worth $2,218,364. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth approximately $694,985,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,772,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,815,000 after acquiring an additional 936,823 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $3,086,836,000 after acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 230.5% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 553,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,747,000 after acquiring an additional 385,854 shares during the period. 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.