HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

HCA has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Baird R W cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stephens upgraded HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $404.00 price target (up from $376.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $1.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $377.71. 1,098,684 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,461,953. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $373.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.45. The firm has a market cap of $90.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. The firm had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors 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 about $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% in the first 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 stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at $569,217,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 6,237.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,350,933 shares of the company's stock worth $466,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329,618 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 83.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,399,372 shares of the company's stock valued at $829,104,000 after buying an additional 1,091,416 shares in the last quarter. 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.