HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,520,000 shares, an increase of 16.6% from the May 31st total of 3,020,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $371.00 to $360.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $327.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total value of $303,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares in the company, valued at $6,977,880. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.00, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,124 shares in the company, valued at $10,544,316. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $303,576.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,977,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,397 shares of company stock worth $3,921,929 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare in the third quarter valued at $1,825,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 71.4% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,511 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 35,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,647,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 65,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,162,000 after buying an additional 4,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 2,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 1.5 %

HCA stock opened at $319.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $344.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $326.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $317.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.16.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 674.49%. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is 13.16%.

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.