Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in HealthStream by 26.4%, selling 15,100 shares in the first quarter, while other institutional investors like Copeland Capital Management and Cerity Partners made significant increases to their positions.
• HealthStream's stock has recently been rated with a "hold" by Canaccord Genuity, with a lowered price target of $29.00, while the overall consensus rate remains a "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $31.50.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.031 per share, representing a 0.5% yield, alongside a share repurchase program authorizing the buyback of up to $25 million in shares.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its position in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM - Free Report) by 26.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,200 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 15,100 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of HealthStream worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in HealthStream by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,055,060 shares of the technology company's stock worth $97,151,000 after buying an additional 92,067 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in HealthStream by 101.3% during the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 763,690 shares of the technology company's stock worth $24,576,000 after buying an additional 384,384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in HealthStream by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 694,274 shares of the technology company's stock worth $22,082,000 after buying an additional 19,510 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in HealthStream by 2.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 424,790 shares of the technology company's stock worth $13,670,000 after buying an additional 10,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in HealthStream by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 306,440 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,745,000 after buying an additional 36,239 shares in the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HealthStream Trading Down 0.6%

HSTM stock traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $25.94. 171,231 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 179,764. HealthStream, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.36 and a 1-year high of $34.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $791.69 million, a PE ratio of 38.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.43.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.70% and a net margin of 6.89%. The business had revenue of $74.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $74.39 million. As a group, research analysts expect that HealthStream, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 8th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.031 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. HealthStream's payout ratio is presently 19.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on HealthStream from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

HealthStream Company Profile

HealthStream, Inc provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company's solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs.