HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) was the target of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 521,700 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the August 31st total of 495,000 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 119,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSTM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of HealthStream from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of HealthStream from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Insider Transactions at HealthStream

In other news, Director Tate Deborah Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $39,942.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,960.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Tate Deborah Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $39,942.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,960.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin P. O’hara sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $84,090.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,041.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 20.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HealthStream

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HSTM. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 172.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 996 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,671 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,178 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the period. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 78,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

HealthStream Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of HSTM opened at $29.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $889.14 million, a PE ratio of 50.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $28.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.56. HealthStream has a fifty-two week low of $21.49 and a fifty-two week high of $31.15.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $71.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 million. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.26% and a return on equity of 5.19%. HealthStream’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that HealthStream will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a $0.028 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.97%.

HealthStream Company Profile

HealthStream, Inc provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company’s solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs.