HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Announces $0.66 Quarterly Dividend

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.66 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%.

HCA Healthcare has increased its dividend by an average of 50.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. HCA Healthcare has a dividend payout ratio of 11.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect HCA Healthcare to earn $22.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.5%.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock traded down $13.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $300.79. 262,093 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,082,975. HCA Healthcare has a 12 month low of $215.96 and a 12 month high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $324.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total transaction of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other HCA Healthcare news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,967.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total transaction of $203,450.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,491.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.88.

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.