HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• HCA Healthcare, Inc. has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from analysts, with an average price target of $403.17.
• The company reported $6.84 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and marking a 6.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• HCA Healthcare announced a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, set to be paid on September 30, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $403.1667.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HCA. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $416.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $402.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $420.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $382.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $362.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.41.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $6.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.20 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $18.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.49 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 7,363.11% and a net margin of 8.21%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.50 EPS. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.500-27.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare's payout ratio is presently 12.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total value of $1,606,670.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,194,716.52. The trade was a 10.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 311.8% in the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 70 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company's stock.

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.

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