HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Lowered to $384.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $405.00 to $384.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.19.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $332.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $84.14 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $281.61 and a one year high of $417.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $313.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $353.13.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.52% and a return on equity of 520.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.90 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 21.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 11.85%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,579. This trade represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently 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. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.3% during the third quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC now owns 8,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,297,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.4% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 421 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.8% in the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 30 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.