Short Interest in Performant Financial Co. (NASDAQ:PFMT) Drops By 15.7%

Performant Financial Co. (NASDAQ:PFMT) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 918,700 shares, a decline of 15.7% from the October 31st total of 1,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 142,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Performant Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFMT opened at $3.14 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.35. Performant Financial has a fifty-two week low of $2.37 and a fifty-two week high of $4.35. The company has a market cap of $245.83 million, a PE ratio of -31.40 and a beta of 0.14.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03). Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 6.74%. The business had revenue of $31.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Performant Financial will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Performant Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Performant Financial by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,663,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,770,000 after purchasing an additional 59,043 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 2.8% during the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 2,051,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,948,000 after buying an additional 55,400 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Performant Financial by 18.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 31,075 shares during the period. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Performant Financial by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 785,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,278,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Performant Financial by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 20,637 shares during the period. 77.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Craig Hallum raised shares of Performant Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. B. Riley reduced their target price on Performant Financial from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

About Performant Financial

Performant Financial Corporation provides technology-enabled audit, recovery, and analytics services in the United States. The company identifies improper payments resulting from incorrect coding, procedures that were not medically necessary, incomplete documentation or claims submitted based on outdated fee schedules, and coverage discrepancies; and provides first party call center and other outsourced services.