HCA Healthcare (HCA) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Friday

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) is set to release its earnings data before the market opens on Friday, April 26th. Analysts expect HCA Healthcare to post earnings of $4.92 per share for the quarter. HCA Healthcare has set its FY24 guidance at $19.70-21.20 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance at 19.700-21.200 EPS.Investors interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect HCA Healthcare to post $21 EPS for the current fiscal year and $23 EPS for the next fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 0.1 %

HCA stock opened at $319.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02. HCA Healthcare has a 52-week low of $215.96 and a 52-week high of $335.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $324.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $293.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.04, for a total value of $203,450.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,491.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays started coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $356.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.88.

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.