Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 259,500 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the August 15th total of 236,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 141,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HURN shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $137.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huron Consulting Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.48, for a total transaction of $114,078.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,271,481.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.48, for a total value of $114,078.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,271,481.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C. Mark Hussey sold 4,000 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.13, for a total transaction of $412,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,361,883.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,439 shares of company stock valued at $4,512,214. 2.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huron Consulting Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 26,500.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the second quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the fourth quarter worth $97,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Performance

Shares of Huron Consulting Group stock traded down $0.47 on Wednesday, reaching $106.90. 89,267 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 132,600. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94 and a beta of 0.61. Huron Consulting Group has a 1-year low of $84.26 and a 1-year high of $115.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $106.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $371.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $374.33 million. Huron Consulting Group had a return on equity of 20.44% and a net margin of 5.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Huron Consulting Group will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Huron Consulting Group

Huron Consulting Group Inc, a professional services firm, provides consultancy services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Education, and Commercial. The Healthcare segment provides financial and operational performance improvement consulting services; digital offerings, spanning technology and analytic-related services; software products; organizational transformation services; revenue cycle managed and outsourcing services; financial and capital advisory consulting services; and strategy and innovation consulting services to national and regional health systems, academic and community health systems, federal health system, public, children’s and critical access hospitals, physician practices and medical groups, payors, and long-term care or post-acute providers.