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

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their overweight rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $335.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set an outperform rating and a $396.00 target price for the company. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $326.53.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 2.1 %

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $326.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $85.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $344.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $326.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released 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. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.93 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total value of $607,673.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,397,042.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total transaction of $607,673.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,397,042.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,397 shares of company stock worth $3,921,929 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 65,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,162,000 after acquiring an additional 4,109 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.1% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 2,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.0% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.2% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 200,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,221,000 after acquiring an additional 11,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EHP Funds Inc. bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $295,000. 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.