HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.35 EPS

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35, Briefing.com reports. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. HCA Healthcare updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.700-21.200 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $19.70-21.20 EPS.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $306.69 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $323.94 and its 200-day moving average is $295.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HCA shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.