Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Huron Consulting Group has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen. In contrast, Barrington Research raised their price target for the stock from $173.00 to $176.00 while maintaining an "outperform" rating.
• The company reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations of $1.79, with year-over-year revenue growth of 8.3%.
• Insider activity shows significant selling, with a director reducing his ownership by 11.30% after selling over 1,000 shares, indicating potential caution among insiders.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $171.50.

Huron Consulting Group Trading Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:HURN traded up $2.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $135.01. 30,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 204,720. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56 and a beta of 0.26. Huron Consulting Group has a 52 week low of $102.58 and a 52 week high of $155.00. The firm's 50 day moving average is $134.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Huron Consulting Group will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Huron Consulting Group

In other Huron Consulting Group news, Director H Eugene Lockhart sold 1,040 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.74, for a total value of $142,209.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,162 shares in the company, valued at $1,116,071.88. This represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Mccartney sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.11, for a total transaction of $64,555.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 51,317 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,537.87. This represents a 0.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,708 shares of company stock valued at $633,121 over the last 90 days. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huron Consulting Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HURN. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,626,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $760,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Huron Consulting Group by 32.5% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 31,781 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,559,000 after acquiring an additional 7,788 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.