HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA – Get Free Report) is one of 233 public companies in the “Healthcare Providers & Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare HCA Healthcare to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.
Volatility & Risk
HCA Healthcare has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCA Healthcare’s peers have a beta of 0.99, indicating that their average stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
HCA Healthcare pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. HCA Healthcare pays out 10.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 25.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. HCA Healthcare has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
62.7% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.7% of shares of all “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of HCA Healthcare shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares HCA Healthcare and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| HCA Healthcare | 8.61% | -198.52% | 10.81% |
| HCA Healthcare Competitors | -8.01% | -140.31% | -1.38% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for HCA Healthcare and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| HCA Healthcare | 1 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 2.62 |
| HCA Healthcare Competitors | 1859 | 7716 | 13322 | 815 | 2.55 |
HCA Healthcare presently has a consensus price target of $480.13, indicating a potential downside of 2.89%. As a group, “Healthcare Providers & Services” companies have a potential upside of 15.59%. Given HCA Healthcare’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HCA Healthcare has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares HCA Healthcare and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| HCA Healthcare | $78.70 billion | $6.78 billion | 16.38 |
| HCA Healthcare Competitors | $19.20 billion | $288.54 million | 14.48 |
HCA Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. HCA Healthcare is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.
Summary
HCA Healthcare beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.
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. The company also operates outpatient health care facilities consisting of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, physician practices, and various other facilities. In addition, it operates behavioral hospitals, which provide therapeutic programs comprising child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adolescent and adult alcohol, drug abuse treatment, and counseling services. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
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