HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $381.13.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $336.00 price objective (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays cut their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, January 27th.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA traded up $5.05 on Friday, reaching $368.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,203,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,410,135. The firm has a market cap of $88.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 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 $417.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $336.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.80.

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

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.81%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This trade represents a 38.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock worth $5,887,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter valued at approximately $569,217,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $466,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329,618 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,781,459 shares of the company's stock worth $615,583,000 after purchasing an additional 587,036 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.