HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Hits New 52-Week High at $408.00

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $408.00 and last traded at $408.00, with a volume of 138 shares. The stock had previously closed at $404.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HCA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 1.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11. The company has a market cap of $105.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $374.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.69.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the first quarter worth about $231,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.9% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after acquiring an additional 456,738 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 365,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,065,000 after acquiring an additional 138,146 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth approximately $566,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.