HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America upped their price target on HCA Healthcare from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $370.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $380.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $425.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $471.42.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 4.8%

HCA Healthcare stock opened at $468.68 on Friday. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $469.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $416.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $383.23.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The company reported $6.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.64 by $1.32. The firm had revenue of $19.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.55 billion. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 792.25% and a net margin of 8.53%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.90 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 27.000-28.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.13%.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,836 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.84, for a total transaction of $1,606,670.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,194,716.52. This trade represents a 10.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HCA. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 253 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in HCA Healthcare by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 0.4% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,791,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co increased its position in HCA Healthcare by 2.3% during the first quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

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.