HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Short Interest Update

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, a decrease of 13.0% from the March 15th total of 2,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $289,299.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $289,299.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,474. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.0% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of HCA stock traded down $8.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $313.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,623,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,052,363. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.65. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that HCA Healthcare will post 20.49 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.05.

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.