HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Shares Gap Down to $311.03

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $311.03, but opened at $303.01. HCA Healthcare shares last traded at $297.78, with a volume of 376,849 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays assumed coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.05.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 3.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $79.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.82.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,083,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter worth $248,000. Institutional investors 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.