Stifel Financial Corp Reduces Stock Position in Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)

Stifel Financial Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) by 20.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 961 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Huron Consulting Group were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HURN. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Huron Consulting Group by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $296,000. Finally, Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $299,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Huron Consulting Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HURN opened at $122.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.94. Huron Consulting Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.26 and a fifty-two week high of $131.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.70, for a total transaction of $247,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 52,825 shares in the company, valued at $6,534,452.50. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.27, for a total transaction of $112,817.34. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,122,506.80. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,126 shares of company stock worth $865,710 over the last three months. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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