HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $417.45 and last traded at $417.45, with a volume of 1083 shares. The stock had previously closed at $415.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HCA. Oppenheimer increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of HCA Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $427.00 target price on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.65.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $109.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $392.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $350.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.05 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 553.13%. HCA Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.29 EPS. Equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.51 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total value of $3,221,340.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,438,494.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 2,987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.51, for a total transaction of $1,085,804.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,454 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,623.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,202 shares of company stock valued at $6,407,273. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare during the 1st quarter valued at $231,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 29.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,636,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HCA Healthcare during the first quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 54.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,639,000 after purchasing an additional 4,893 shares during the period. 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.