Wall Street Zen Upgrades Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Universal Health Services has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increased analyst confidence in the stock's potential.
• Despite the upgrade, other analysts have mixed views, with price targets ranging from $185.00 to $259.00 and various ratings including "sector perform," "underperform," and "overweight."
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, beating estimates with an EPS of $5.35 and a revenue of $4.28 billion, reflecting a 9.6% year-over-year increase.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

UHS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Universal Health Services to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Universal Health Services from $257.00 to $259.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America downgraded Universal Health Services from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group set a $227.00 price objective on Universal Health Services in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Universal Health Services from $225.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $214.77.

Universal Health Services Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE UHS traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.47. The stock had a trading volume of 977,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 845,490. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $174.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Universal Health Services has a 1 year low of $152.33 and a 1 year high of $243.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.24.

Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The health services provider reported $5.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.85 by $0.50. Universal Health Services had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.31 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Universal Health Services has set its FY 2025 guidance at 20.000-21.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Universal Health Services will post 15.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Universal Health Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Universal Health Services's payout ratio is 4.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Universal Health Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,283,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Universal Health Services by 100.6% in the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 2,560 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 426,211 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Universal Health Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Universal Health Services in the second quarter worth $145,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Universal Health Services by 3.2% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 35,621 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $6,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company's stock.

About Universal Health Services

Universal Health Services, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals, and outpatient and behavioral health care facilities. It operates through Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Care Services segments. The company's hospitals offer general and specialty surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic and coronary care, pediatric services, pharmacy services, and/or behavioral health services.