HCA Healthcare, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.66 (NYSE:HCA)

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, October 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%.

HCA Healthcare has a dividend payout ratio of 10.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect HCA Healthcare to earn $24.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.6%.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $398.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $104.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. HCA Healthcare has a 1 year low of $220.55 and a 1 year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $394.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $352.30.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The company had revenue of $17.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.29 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 22.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HCA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,436,623.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total value of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,623.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.20, for a total value of $1,440,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,569,729.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,345 shares of company stock valued at $5,747,945. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.