HCA Healthcare (HCA) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company also operates outpatient health care facilities consisting of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices, and various other facilities. In addition, it operates behavioral hospitals, which provide therapeutic programs comprising child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adolescent and adult alcohol, drug abuse treatment, and counseling services. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $296.64 to $304.92
• 50-Day Range: $297.52 to $415.67
• 52-Week Range: $265.76 to $417.14
• Volume: 2.93 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.22 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $76.91 billion
• P/E Ratio: 13.63
• Dividend Yield: 0.87%
• Price Target: $385.63
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

HCA Healthcare Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

HCA Healthcare scored higher than 99% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 19th out of 945 stocks in the medical sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

HCA Healthcare has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.78, and is based on 11 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

HCA Healthcare has been the subject of 9 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 13.11%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for HCA Healthcare are expected to grow by 13.11% in the coming year, from $21.90 to $24.77 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of HCA Healthcare is 13.63, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 112.81.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of HCA Healthcare is 13.63, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Medical sector average P/E ratio of about 87.02.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

HCA Healthcare has a PEG Ratio of 1.21. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

HCA Healthcare has a P/B Ratio of 76.67. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.94% of the float of HCA Healthcare has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

HCA Healthcare has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.5, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in HCA Healthcare has recently increased by 18.86%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

HCA Healthcare has a dividend yield of 0.86%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

HCA Healthcare does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of HCA Healthcare is 11.85%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, HCA Healthcare will have a dividend payout ratio of 10.66% next year. This indicates that HCA Healthcare will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.92

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.94% of the float of HCA Healthcare has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

HCA Healthcare has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.5, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in HCA Healthcare has recently increased by 18.86%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.13

News Sentiment

HCA Healthcare has a news sentiment score of 0.13. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.61 average news sentiment score of Medical companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 17 news articles for HCA Healthcare this week, compared to 18 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 11 people have searched for HCA on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -59% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 17 people have added HCA Healthcare to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -29% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, HCA Healthcare insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $2,387,650.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 1.60% of the stock of HCA Healthcare is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

62.73% of the stock of HCA Healthcare is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

HCA Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have HCA shares performed this year?

HCA Healthcare's stock was trading at $270.68 on January 1st, 2024. Since then, HCA shares have increased by 12.2% and is now trading at $303.62.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were HCA Healthcare's earnings last quarter?

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July, 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare's revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

How will HCA Healthcare's stock buyback program work?

HCA Healthcare's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th 2024, which allows the company to buy back $6,000,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Does HCA Healthcare have any subsidiaries?

The following companies are subsidiaries of HCA Healthcare: Valify, Galen College of Nursing, Mission Health, Highlands Regional Medical Center, Weatherford Regional Medical Center, Memorial University Medical Center, Mobile Heartbeat, and others.

Who are HCA Healthcare's major shareholders?

HCA Healthcare's top institutional shareholders include Sanders Capital LLC (4.56%), State Street Corp (3.28%), Wellington Management Group LLP (2.78%) and Geode Capital Management LLC (1.51%). Insiders that own company stock include Thomas F Frist Jr, Charles J Hall, Patricia F Elcan, Bill B Rutherford, Phillip G Billington, Christopher F Wyatt, A Bruce Moore Jr, Michael S Cuffe, P Martin Paslick, Kathryn A Torres, Timothy M Mcmanus, Jon M Foster, Kathleen M Whalen, Sammie S Mosier, Jennifer Berres, Erol R Akdamar, Jeffrey E Cohen, Andrea B Smith, Chad J Wasserman, Michael R Mcalevey, Deborah M Reiner and Joseph A Sowell III.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of HCA Healthcare?

Shares of HCA stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of HCA Healthcare own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that HCA Healthcare investors own include Chevron (CVX), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Comcast (CMCSA), McKesson (MCK), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Edwards Lifesciences (EW) and Yum! Brands (YUM).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/23/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 9/30 Dividend: 9/16/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/30/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/27 Dividend: 12/13/2024
• Today: 12/22/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/27/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Medical
• Industry: General medical & surgical hospitals
• Sub-Industry: Health Care Facilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:HCA
• CUSIP: 40412C10
• CIK: 860730
• Web: www.hcahealthcare.com
• Phone: (615) 344-9551
• Fax: 302-655-5049
• Employees: 310,000
• Year Founded: 1968

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $385.63
• High Stock Price Target: $440.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $301.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +27.0%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.78
• Research Coverage: 18 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $22.27
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 13.63
• Forward P/E Ratio: 13.86
• P/E Growth: 1.21
• Net Income: $5.24 billion
• Net Margins: 8.52%
• Pretax Margin: 12.55%
• Return on Equity: 520.98%
• Return on Assets: 10.09%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 48.71
• Current Ratio: 1.12
• Quick Ratio: 1.00

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $69.62 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.10
• Cash Flow: $30.12 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 10.08
• Book Value: $3.96 per share
• Price / Book: 76.67

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 253,297,000
• Free Float: 249,244,000
• Market Cap: $76.91 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.63