HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Announces $0.72 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• HCA Healthcare, Inc. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, with a payout ratio of 10.3%, indicating strong earnings coverage. The annualized dividend amounts to $2.88, translating to a dividend yield of 0.85%.
• The company beat analysts' expectations by reporting $6.84 earnings per share for the quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $6.20, and achieved a net margin of 8.07%.
• Brokerages have varied ratings on HCA Healthcare, with a current average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $399.46, reflecting differing outlooks among analysts.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, July 25th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share on Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%.

HCA Healthcare has a payout ratio of 10.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect HCA Healthcare to earn $28.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.3%.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $340.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $374.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.50. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.20 by $0.64. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.50 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in HCA Healthcare stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,021,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HCA. Bank of America cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $394.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Baird R W lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays set a $416.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $399.46.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

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.

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