HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,940,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the February 28th total of 5,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HCA shares. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $420.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $392.00 to $366.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Jennifer Berres sold 9,533 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,971,757.08. The trade was a 38.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HCA Healthcare

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

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded up $2.61 on Thursday, reaching $349.64. 1,321,720 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,350,116. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $289.98 and a 1-year high of $417.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $326.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $340.30. The firm has a market cap of $86.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.68.

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

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.11%.

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.