HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 21.600-22.800 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 22.620. The company issued revenue guidance of $69.8 billion-$71.8 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $70.9 billion.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $475.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.15.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $398.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $394.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $352.30. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $220.55 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.29 EPS. Analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 22.51 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,449 shares in the company, valued at $14,569,729.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,569,729.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,623.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,345 shares of company stock valued at $5,747,945. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.