HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Cut to $360.00 by Analysts at TD Cowen

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its target price lowered by TD Cowen from $371.00 to $360.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on HCA. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA stock opened at $307.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $81.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $322.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.17. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.93 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,474. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $513,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,127 shares of company stock valued at $2,218,364 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.8% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,444,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the third quarter valued at $10,085,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $1,100,000. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,425,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after buying an additional 37,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Company Profile

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.