HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) PT Raised to $359.00 at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target boosted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $330.00 to $359.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Raymond James lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE HCA opened at $322.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $320.01 and its 200 day moving average is $280.13. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total value of $1,185,327.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.