Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $132.95 and last traded at $131.44, with a volume of 45577 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $127.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Huron Consulting Group Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56 and a beta of 0.60. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $370.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.63 million. Huron Consulting Group had a return on equity of 21.51% and a net margin of 5.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huron Consulting Group Inc. will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Huron Consulting Group news, Director John Mccartney sold 500 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.65, for a total transaction of $62,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,066,159.20. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.81, for a total value of $127,968.02. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,756 shares in the company, valued at $3,285,904.36. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,542 shares of company stock worth $941,913. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HURN. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Huron Consulting Group in the second quarter worth $2,226,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Huron Consulting Group by 11.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 3,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 10.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. 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.