SVB Leerink Raises HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $396.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective upped by SVB Leerink from $367.00 to $396.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Baird R W upgraded HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $339.72.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.6 %

HCA opened at $354.78 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $356.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $330.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The stock has a market cap of $92.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 22.38 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 13.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeffrey E. Cohen sold 1,650 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.00, for a total transaction of $516,450.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,622,905. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Jeffrey E. Cohen sold 1,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.00, for a total transaction of $516,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,622,905. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.18, for a total value of $607,673.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,397,042.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,397 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,929. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after purchasing an additional 60,304 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after purchasing an additional 170,560 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,750 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently 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.