KeyCorp Upgrades HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) to Strong-Buy

KeyCorp upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $392.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Leerink Partners upped 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. Wolfe Research upgraded HCA Healthcare to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $365.65.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HCA opened at $394.54 on Thursday. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $409.42. The stock has a market cap of $103.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $387.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total value of $1,085,804.37. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,436,623.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HCA. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at about $231,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 29.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,636,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $566,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 54.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,639,000 after buying an additional 4,893 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.