Do Analysts Recommend HCA at $265.45?

By Tamara Parker • Monday, January 23 15:18 • Permanent Link

Despite today's 1.5% jump to $265.45, HCA Healthcare may soon be running into resistance as it is now within range of its average analyst target price of $265.55. With an average rating of buy, and analysts assigning target prices from 230 to 308 dollars per share, investors will be asking themselves if the Medical Care Facility stock can sustain this bullish run.

The market seems to share this optimistic view, since HCA Healthcare has a short interest of only 1.3% (this is the percentage of the share float that is being shorted). Each short position represents an investor's expectation that the price of the stock will decrease in the future.

Short selling involves borrowing shares and then selling them at current market prices. In the successful version of the strategy, the shares are purchased at a lower price at some time in the future. The investor then returns the shares to the lender, and keeps the profit made on the sell/buy transaction.

One way to get an idea of the market sentiment on a stock is to check its rate of institutional ownership. In the case of HCA Healthcare, institutional investors own 66.8% of the shares. This would indicate a positive sentiment towards the stock among institutions. What does this really tell us?

Institutional investors such as hedge funds, investment firms, and wealth managers devote significant resources to identifying good investments. If they have decided to invest in HCA, it probably means they believe it is a solid investment choice. But it could also mean they are buying up shares in an effort to acquire the company or get seats on the board of directors. Also bear in mind that institutions are fallible (just maybe not quite as fallible as the average retail investor), so they may simply be wrong when they think they've found a good stock.

In conclusion, we see positive market sentiment regarding HCA Healthcare because of an analyst consensus of some upside potential, a buy rating, a very low short interest, and an average number of institutional investors. At Market Inference, we believe that any investment decision should be preceded by an in-depth analysis of the company's fundamental values and a comparison with similar stocks.

Here's a snapshot of some important facts to keep in mind about HCA:

The stock has trailing 12 month earnings per share (EPS) of $18
HCA Healthcare has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.7 compared to the S&P 500 average of 15.97
HCA Healthcare is a Healthcare company, and the sector average P/E and P/B ratios are 13.21 and 4.07 respectively

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.