HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $19.70-21.20 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.60. The company issued revenue guidance of $67.75-70.25 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $69.06 billion. HCA Healthcare also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 19.700-21.200 EPS.

HCA Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock opened at $314.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $83.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $324.24 and its 200-day moving average is $294.45. HCA Healthcare has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $335.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.85. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 996.30% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that HCA Healthcare will post 20.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This is a positive change from HCA Healthcare’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.91%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $330.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $308.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $310.88.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.21, for a total transaction of $1,305,067.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Chad J. Wasserman sold 344 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.97, for a total value 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 have sold a total of 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869 in the last 90 days. 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.