HCA Healthcare’s (HCA) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $392.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set an equal weight rating and a $427.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $394.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $384.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.49. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $215.96 and a 1 year high of $409.42.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 22.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,623.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth $231,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth $566,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 199,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,922,000 after purchasing an additional 26,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brave Warrior Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 182.1% in the 4th quarter. Brave Warrior Advisors LLC now owns 3,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. 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.