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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on HURN. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $137.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Huron Consulting Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huron Consulting Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.75.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HURN traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.90. The company had a trading volume of 89,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 132,600. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94 and a beta of 0.61. Huron Consulting Group has a 12 month low of $84.26 and a 12 month high of $115.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.11.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $371.70 million for 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 business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Huron Consulting Group will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huron Consulting Group

In other Huron Consulting Group news, insider Kyle Featherstone sold 820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.07, for a total transaction of $88,617.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,565 shares in the company, valued at $169,129.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.48, for a total value of $114,078.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,882 shares in the company, valued at $3,271,481.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kyle Featherstone sold 820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.07, for a total value of $88,617.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,129.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,439 shares of company stock valued at $4,512,214. Company insiders own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new stake in Huron Consulting Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $921,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Huron Consulting Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $584,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Huron Consulting Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Huron Consulting Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,073,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,378,000 after acquiring an additional 25,905 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Huron Consulting Group by 116.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,098,000 after acquiring an additional 26,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Huron Consulting Group Company Profile

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.