Royal Bank of Canada Increases HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Price Target to $329.00

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $322.00 to $329.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.37% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James raised their target price on HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $313.19.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded up $2.60 during trading on Monday, reaching $309.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 193,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,095,661. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $215.96 and a 12-month high of $335.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.26. The company has a market capitalization of $81.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $323.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $295.45.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 674.49% and a net margin of 8.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,929 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,967.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value of $110,757.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,470.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was 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 directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

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