HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Raised to $329.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $322.00 to $329.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on HCA. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $313.88.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $311.42 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $335.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $323.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.56.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,086,836,000 after buying an additional 456,738 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,757,181,000 after acquiring an additional 170,560 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth about $694,985,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,152,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,452,000 after buying an additional 67,332 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.