HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $404.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $376.00. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.08% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on HCA. Barclays set a $416.00 target price on HCA Healthcare and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised HCA Healthcare from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $336.00 price objective (down from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stephens upgraded HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.33.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $373.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $364.79 and its 200 day moving average is $335.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.49. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $289.98 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $0.70. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total value of $5,797,585.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This represents a 55.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 23,177 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,159,882,000 after buying an additional 50,321 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after purchasing an additional 19,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter worth about $840,286,000. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.