HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the June 30th total of 2,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $329.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. SVB Leerink upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $344.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 6,311 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.88, for a total transaction of $1,999,829.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,387,253.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,268 shares of company stock valued at $6,804,285 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,666,569,000 after purchasing an additional 60,304 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $1.76 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $361.29. 887,470 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,163. The business has a fifty day moving average of $332.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.10. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $215.96 and a 1 year high of $369.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The company has a market capitalization of $94.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 22.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

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.