HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives $385.67 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $385.67.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HCA shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40,544.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 20,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,590,000 after acquiring an additional 20,272 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at about $251,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.2% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 18,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.3% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 3,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 4.7 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $305.79 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $75.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $289.98 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $315.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $349.52.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

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.