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

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) saw a large growth in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 82,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HURN shares. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on Huron Consulting Group from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huron Consulting Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huron Consulting Group

In related news, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.42, for a total value of $256,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,626.50. This trade represents a 3.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.27, for a total value of $112,817.34. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,840 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,126 shares of company stock worth $604,420. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HURN. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Huron Consulting Group by 6.0% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Huron Consulting Group by 71.7% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 9,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 10,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Huron Consulting Group by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,073,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $200,378,000 after purchasing an additional 25,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 8.4% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of HURN traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $118.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 123,922. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Huron Consulting Group has a 12-month low of $84.26 and a 12-month high of $131.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day moving average is $111.04 and its 200 day moving average is $103.27.

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

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.