HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $19.70-21.20 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HCA opened at $306.69 on Friday. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $215.96 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $323.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.45.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HCA shares. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $303.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $356.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $310.88.

Insider Transactions at HCA Healthcare

In related news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,138,652.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathleen M. Whalen sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sammie S. Mosier sold 1,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.00, for a total transaction of $513,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,385,552. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,840 shares of company stock valued at $4,588,869. 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.