Royal Bank of Canada Boosts HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $378.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $329.00 to $378.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on HCA. Truist Financial increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $339.72.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of HCA stock opened at $354.78 on Wednesday. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $356.30. The stock has a market cap of $92.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $330.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $323.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 22.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $303,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,397 shares of company stock worth $3,921,929. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 90,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 10,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,036,000 after purchasing an additional 4,150 shares during the period. 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.