HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 19.700-21.200 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 20.640. The company issued revenue guidance of $67.8 billion-$70.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $69.1 billion. HCA Healthcare also updated its FY24 guidance to $19.70-21.20 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HCA shares. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $301.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $310.88.

HCA Healthcare Stock Down 2.4 %

HCA traded down $7.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $306.69. 2,257,051 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,051,296. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $323.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $295.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07. HCA Healthcare has a 1-year low of $215.96 and a 1-year high of $335.83. The stock has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.01 by $0.35. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 996.30%. The company had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.93 EPS. HCA Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total value of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total transaction of $110,757.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,452 shares in the company, valued at $789,470.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock worth $4,588,869 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.