HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) Receives $534.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $537.7273.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HCA shares. Mizuho upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $540.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $520.00 to $558.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $507.00 to $573.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

HCA Healthcare Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:HCA traded up $2.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $535.17. 111,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,113,156. The firm has a market cap of $119.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $505.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $468.65. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $313.21 and a fifty-two week high of $556.52.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The company reported $8.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.37 by $0.64. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 409.11% and a net margin of 8.97%.The business had revenue of $19.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.22 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. HCA Healthcare has set its FY 2026 guidance at 29.100-31.500 EPS. Research analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is presently 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Christopher F. Wyatt sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.00, for a total value of $2,020,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 44,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,411,395. The trade was a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael R. Mcalevey sold 1,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.37, for a total value of $903,528.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,853 shares in the company, valued at $4,721,924.61. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 15,214 shares of company stock worth $7,797,595 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HCA Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HCA. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 13.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 43,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,719,000 after acquiring an additional 5,092 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 558,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,115,000 after purchasing an additional 23,100 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 2.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 626,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,051,000 after buying an additional 17,531 shares during the period. Finally, Sector Gamma AS increased its stake in HCA Healthcare by 36.0% during the third quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 10,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare is a for‑profit operator of healthcare facilities headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1968, the company owns and operates a network of hospitals and related healthcare facilities and has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to become a large provider of inpatient and outpatient services.

The company’s core activities include the operation of acute care hospitals, freestanding surgical and emergency centers, and outpatient clinics. HCA’s services encompass inpatient care, surgical services, emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, and various outpatient and ambulatory care offerings.