Analysts Set HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Price Target at $385.67

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $385.67.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $384.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $329.25 on Friday. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $289.98 and a 52 week high of $417.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $321.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.71.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 586.47%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.11%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total transaction of $3,075,250.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after acquiring an additional 116,826 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,882,000 after acquiring an additional 50,321 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 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.