HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) PT Raised to $315.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $303.00 to $315.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential downside of 4.89% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $311.47.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE HCA traded down $0.49 during trading on Thursday, hitting $331.20. The stock had a trading volume of 147,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,078,264. The company has a market capitalization of $87.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.64. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $334.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $309.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 20.49 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. abrdn plc raised its position in HCA Healthcare by 4.8% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 164,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,444,000 after acquiring an additional 7,476 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,425,000 after purchasing an additional 7,476 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in HCA Healthcare by 623.3% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 43,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 37,488 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,085,000. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 4th quarter valued at $1,100,000. 62.73% of the stock is currently 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.