Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Separately, Barrington Research boosted their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Huron Consulting Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.50.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Performance

HURN stock opened at $131.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90 and a beta of 0.26. Huron Consulting Group has a 1 year low of $102.50 and a 1 year high of $155.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $134.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.60.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $402.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $402.67 million. Huron Consulting Group had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Huron Consulting Group will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.98, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,304 shares in the company, valued at $5,585,349.92. This represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.74, for a total value of $142,209.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,071.88. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,708 shares of company stock worth $633,121. Insiders own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Group LLC raised its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 29.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Group LLC now owns 65,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,970,000 after purchasing an additional 14,770 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 21,894 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group during the second quarter worth $14,860,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 5.7% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 3,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 725.5% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 421 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.