HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Shares Down 4% - Here's What Happened

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $309.00 and last traded at $312.28. 918,277 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 1,548,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $325.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on HCA. Truist Financial dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.27.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $313.49 and a 200 day moving average of $352.62. The company has a market capitalization of $79.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 520.98% and a net margin of 8.52%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 21.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,112,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,760 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth $514,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.