HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Shares Gap Down to $314.12

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $314.12, but opened at $297.38. HCA Healthcare shares last traded at $302.35, with a volume of 320,058 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $324.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.45. The stock has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,993. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 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.