Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) to Underweight

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report issued on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $320.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $400.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 1.52% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James cut HCA Healthcare from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded HCA Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on HCA Healthcare from $475.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare from $396.00 to $392.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.29.

HCA Healthcare Price Performance

HCA stock opened at $324.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $379.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.70. The stock has a market cap of $82.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.68. HCA Healthcare has a fifty-two week low of $245.84 and a fifty-two week high of $417.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Phillip G. Billington sold 3,897 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,363,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,445,700. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,438,494.76. The trade was a 21.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,155 shares of company stock worth $5,608,990. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 322.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,141,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,909,000 after buying an additional 2,397,883 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth approximately $131,527,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 53.3% in the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,472,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $150,548,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the first quarter worth $95,882,000. Institutional investors own 62.73% 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.