HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Cut to “Market Perform” at Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on HCA. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $427.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.29.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $325.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $377.85 and a 200-day moving average of $358.72. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $245.84 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. The company has a market cap of $82.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.68.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is 11.85%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 21.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,579. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,155 shares of company stock worth $5,608,990. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 284.0% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 96 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 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.