HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.35 EPS

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.01 by $0.35, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.93 earnings per share. HCA Healthcare updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.700-21.200 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $19.70-21.20 EPS.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

HCA Healthcare stock traded down $7.43 on Friday, hitting $306.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,222,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,104,165. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $324.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $294.45. The firm has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HCA. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HCA Healthcare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total transaction of $1,185,327.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 3,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.00, for a total value of $1,185,327.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,993. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.79, for a total value of $981,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,967.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869. Corporate insiders own 1.60% 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.