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

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share on Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th.

HCA Healthcare has increased its dividend by an average of 11.2% annually over the last three years. HCA Healthcare has a payout ratio of 10.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of HCA traded up $3.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $343.87. The company had a trading volume of 505,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,392,661. The firm has a market cap of $84.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $330.44 and a 200-day moving average of $331.39. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. The business had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.36 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on HCA shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $381.13.

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.