Insider Selling: HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) EVP Sells 8,358 Shares of Stock

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,438,494.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE HCA opened at $391.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $101.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.67. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week high of $403.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $360.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The firm 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%. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $359.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $392.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $367.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $359.89.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,989,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,666,569,000 after acquiring an additional 60,304 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after purchasing an additional 456,738 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,186,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,757,181,000 after acquiring an additional 170,560 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,890 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares during the period. 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.