HCA Healthcare (HCA) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Friday

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) is scheduled to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Friday, April 26th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $4.92 per share for the quarter. HCA Healthcare has set its FY24 guidance at $19.70-21.20 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance at 19.700-21.200 EPS.Individual that wish to listen to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect HCA Healthcare to post $21 EPS for the current fiscal year and $23 EPS for the next fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

NYSE:HCA opened at $297.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.94. 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 fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. 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 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Enlightenment Research LLC purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth about $226,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $220,000. Oracle Alpha Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in HCA Healthcare during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.05.

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.