StockNews.com Upgrades HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) to “Strong-Buy”

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other research firms have also commented on HCA. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA opened at $319.43 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $215.96 and a 1 year high of $335.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.64 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 in the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $694,985,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,890 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 112.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,772,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,815,000 after acquiring an additional 936,823 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 230.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 553,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,747,000 after purchasing an additional 385,854 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.