HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $385.67.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James downgraded HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of HCA traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $320.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,788,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,694,602. The business's fifty day moving average is $314.65 and its 200 day moving average is $350.12. The firm has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $289.98 and a 52-week high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at $185,000. Challenger Wealth Management acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $717,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 129,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,011,000 after purchasing an additional 5,688 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,033 shares of the company's stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 134.5% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 226,811 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,076,000 after acquiring an additional 130,076 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is 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.