HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on HCA. Oppenheimer increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. 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 research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $356.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $316.59.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA opened at $309.44 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $323.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $296.64. The stock has a market cap of $81.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare has a 52 week low of $215.96 and a 52 week high of $335.83.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.82 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of HCA Healthcare 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $90,491.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,779 shares of company stock worth $2,421,814. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,594,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at about $317,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at about $597,000. 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.