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

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 173,500 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the October 15th total of 162,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 82,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HURN. Barrington Research boosted 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huron Consulting Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.48, for a total value of $114,078.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,882 shares in the company, valued at $3,271,481.36. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.42, for a total transaction of $256,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,626.50. This represents a 3.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,126 shares of company stock valued at $604,420 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 36.6% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 922,254 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $88,994,000 after purchasing an additional 247,218 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 538,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,512,000 after buying an additional 121,371 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huron Consulting Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,202,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huron Consulting Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,533,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 240.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,426,000 after acquiring an additional 96,308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Huron Consulting Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HURN traded down $0.36 on Tuesday, hitting $118.51. The company had a trading volume of 3,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 123,922. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $111.04 and a 200 day moving average of $103.27. Huron Consulting Group has a 52-week low of $84.26 and a 52-week high of $131.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

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

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.