Bank of America Cuts HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $370.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Bank of America from $380.00 to $370.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 12.67% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on HCA. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $320.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.19.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $328.39 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $313.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $353.24. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $281.61 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. The firm has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.64.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.90 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 21.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erol R. Akdamar sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $1,023,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,579. The trade was a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 135 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 131.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,156,000 after buying an additional 28,672 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.