HCA Healthcare’s (HCA) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird restated their neutral rating on shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $336.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $396.00.

HCA has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HCA Healthcare from $406.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.67.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $334.38 on Tuesday. HCA Healthcare has a 12-month low of $289.98 and a 12-month high of $417.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $328.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $335.10. The company has a market cap of $82.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.03 by $0.19. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 586.47% and a net margin of 8.16%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.59, for a total value of $3,075,250.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,971,757.08. This represents a 38.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,655,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,417,000 after buying an additional 116,826 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,503,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,177 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,882,000 after buying an additional 50,321 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,928,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $878,975,000 after buying an additional 19,121 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in HCA Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $840,286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.