HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.66

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%.

HCA Healthcare has increased its dividend payment by an average of 50.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 4 years. HCA Healthcare has a payout ratio of 11.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect HCA Healthcare to earn $22.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.5%.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock traded down $7.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $306.60. 2,257,039 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,107,586. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $323.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $295.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.93 EPS. HCA Healthcare's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $356.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $310.88.

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.