Morgan Stanley Raises HCA Healthcare (HCA) Price Target to $91.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $84.00 to $91.00 in a research report issued on Thursday. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 10.99% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Argus set a $97.00 price objective on HCA Healthcare and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Jaffray Companies reissued a “hold” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Investment Research lowered HCA Healthcare from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.85.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) traded up $1.08 on Thursday, reaching $102.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,192,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,553,019. The firm has a market cap of $35,918.63, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of -6.58, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.41. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $71.18 and a 12-month high of $106.84.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $11.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.19 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 49.49% and a net margin of 4.89%. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 8.6 EPS for the current year.

In related news, SVP Victor L. Campbell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total transaction of $624,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 127,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,927,450. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph A. Sowell III sold 22,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.86, for a total value of $2,243,466.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 27,411 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,792,084.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,750 shares of company stock valued at $9,376,264 in the last 90 days. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Glenview Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 14,899,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,299,218,000 after buying an additional 384,024 shares during the period. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD now owns 11,135,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,247,000 after buying an additional 2,053,701 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,639,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,225,000 after buying an additional 216,000 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,887,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,806,000 after buying an additional 580,084 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,742,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,867,000 after purchasing an additional 288,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.23% of the company’s stock.

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HCA Healthcare Company Profile

HCA Healthcare, Inc, formerly HCA Holdings, Inc, is a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities. As of December 31, 2016, the Company operated in two geographically organized groups, including the National and American Groups. As of December 31, 2016, the National Group included 84 hospitals, which were located in Alaska, California, Florida, southern Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, northern Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Analyst Recommendations for HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA)