HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $417.45 and last traded at $417.45, with a volume of 1083 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $415.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.15.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $393.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $351.69. The stock has a market cap of $106.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 553.13%. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,303,912.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth approximately $131,527,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 53.3% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,472,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter valued at about $95,882,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 721,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,581,000 after acquiring an additional 168,093 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is 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.