Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) Short Interest Update

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 159,200 shares, a drop of 8.2% from the October 31st total of 173,500 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 86,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Huron Consulting Group Stock Up 1.3 %

HURN traded up $1.60 on Monday, hitting $124.41. The company had a trading volume of 87,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,528. Huron Consulting Group has a 12-month low of $84.26 and a 12-month high of $131.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.79.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,626.50. This trade represents a 3.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.27, for a total transaction of $112,817.34. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,122,506.80. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HURN. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 29.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 538,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,512,000 after purchasing an additional 121,371 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,202,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Huron Consulting Group during the second quarter valued at $9,533,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Huron Consulting Group by 240.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,426,000 after purchasing an additional 96,308 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 395,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,306,000 after buying an additional 67,239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

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.