HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target Cut to $384.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $405.00 to $384.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on HCA. Oppenheimer increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $382.19.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA stock opened at $327.80 on Monday. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $313.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $353.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 520.98% and a net margin of 8.52%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 21.75 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,579. This trade represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCA. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,883 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $150,548,000. Canoe Financial LP grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 226,952.9% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 231,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,513,000 after buying an additional 231,492 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 210.6% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 306,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,691,000 after buying an additional 208,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 843,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,020,000 after buying an additional 193,075 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.