Headlands Technologies LLC Makes New $868,000 Investment in Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake of 6,052 shares in Huron Consulting Group, valued at approximately $868,000, during the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Huron Consulting Group, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock from a "buy" to a "hold" while Barrington Research raised its target price from $173.00 to $176.00.
• Huron Consulting Group reported earnings of $1.89 per share for the last quarter, beating estimates, with revenue of $402.50 million, an increase of 8.3% year-over-year.

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,052 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $868,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,843 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 101,041 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,555,000 after purchasing an additional 23,059 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 31,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,910,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 62.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 10,205 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,940 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,475 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,390,000 after acquiring an additional 4,971 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Up 2.7%

NASDAQ:HURN traded up $3.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $135.80. The stock had a trading volume of 73,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 204,908. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.56. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 0.26. Huron Consulting Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.58 and a twelve month high of $155.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barrington Research boosted their price target on shares of Huron Consulting Group from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Huron Consulting Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $171.50.

Insider Activity at Huron Consulting Group

In other news, Director John Mccartney sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.11, for a total transaction of $64,555.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 51,317 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,537.87. This trade represents a 0.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James H. Roth sold 2,000 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.98, for a total transaction of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,585,349.92. This trade represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,708 shares of company stock valued at $633,121. Company insiders own 2.15% of the company's stock.

Huron Consulting Group 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.