HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Stock Rating Upgraded by KeyCorp

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) was upgraded by equities researchers at KeyCorp to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on HCA. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $376.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.65.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA opened at $394.54 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $409.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.34 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $387.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $347.49.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 22.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total value of $1,085,804.37. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,436,623.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after buying an additional 1,019,750 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $131,527,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 53.3% during the second 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 period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth about $95,882,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

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.