HCA Healthcare, Inc.
boothcheck covers HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA) but does not put one priced-in number on it: here the defensible answer is the evidence rather than a point estimate. boothcheck publishes no house fair value, target price, or buy/sell rating. Narrative composed June 27, 2026.
• HCA is the largest for-profit hospital operator in the country, and its scale lets it raise revenue per admission even when volumes are soft: Q1 2026 revenue rose 4.3% to $19.1 billion while same-facility admissions grew under 1%. [Source: HCA Q1 2026 earnings release] • The biggest risk is the balance sheet, not the operations: net debt of roughly $53 billion sits at about 5.6 times operating income, and the company runs with negative book equity by design. • Watch volume normalization and th
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1,372 institutional managers reported holding HCA in 13F filings for the quarter ended 2026-03-31. Together they hold about 57% of the company; the top 10 hold 29%. 122 opened new positions that quarter. Held by Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street, among others. On the short side, 5.2M shares were sold short as of the 2026-06-15 count, about 2% of shares outstanding (2.7 days of typical volume to cover).
Quarterly 13F filings arrive up to 45 days after quarter end, so the picture is never current (filed through 2026-05-29). Nothing here is investment advice.
HCA has cut its share count 31.9% over the past five years, spending $32.89B on repurchases. It pays a dividend, and has for 8 years running, raised 5 years straight; the current rate is $2.88 a share annually. Cash returned over the past three years: $1.87B in dividends and $19.73B in repurchases.
Share counts are split-adjusted; repurchase totals are gross of share issuance. Nothing here is investment advice.
No open-market insider buys on file at HCA over the trailing three years. Absence is a fact about the company, not a signal. 25 officers and directors are on file.
Code P open-market purchases from SEC Form 4 filings, non-derivative, excluding scheduled 10b5-1 plans. Nothing here is investment advice.
HCA's recent reports: the day-one move, then what the following quarter actually did.
| report | day one | next quarter |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-03 | -3.2% | -9.3% |
| 2023-10-27 | -6.4% | +20.2% |
| 2024-02-17 | +6.4% | -1.1% |
| 2024-05-03 | -0.6% | +4.1% |
Day-one is the close-to-close move around the filing. Nothing here is investment advice.
HCA's latest 8-K filings: 2026-07-29 (items 2.03, 8.01); 2026-07-24 (items 2.02, 7.01, 8.01, 9.01); 2026-07-14 (items 2.02, 7.01, 9.01); 2026-06-18 (items 5.02); 2026-04-30 (items 1.01, 2.03, 8.01, 9.01).
Item codes are the SEC's own classification of what each report discloses. Dates link to the filing on EDGAR. Nothing here is investment advice.
Model solve date: 2026-Q2
Narrative composed: June 27, 2026
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For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.