Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 17,146 Shares of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 380,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,146 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 2.14% of Huron Consulting Group worth $41,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 7.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new position in Huron Consulting Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new position in Huron Consulting Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $264,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Down 1.1 %

HURN opened at $120.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.21 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.59. Huron Consulting Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.26 and a 1-year high of $131.06.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.11. Huron Consulting Group had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 21.51%. The firm had revenue of $370.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.63 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Huron Consulting Group Inc. will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.82, for a total transaction of $120,684.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,219,564.36. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.70, for a total value of $247,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 52,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,534,452.50. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,126 shares of company stock worth $865,710. 2.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barrington Research boosted their target price on Huron Consulting Group from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huron Consulting Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

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.