Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM - Free Report) by 62.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,952 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,252 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned about 0.30% of HealthStream worth $2,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HealthStream in the 4th quarter valued at $233,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HealthStream by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 32,478 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 8,090 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HealthStream in the 4th quarter valued at $1,822,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in HealthStream by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 25,888 shares of the technology company's stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 8,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in HealthStream by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 49,261 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,566,000 after buying an additional 5,330 shares during the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HSTM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on HealthStream from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of HealthStream in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of HealthStream in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HealthStream currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

HealthStream Stock Performance

HSTM stock traded up $0.22 on Thursday, hitting $28.46. 42,994 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 142,318. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.92. HealthStream, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.84 and a 12-month high of $34.24. The stock has a market cap of $868.59 million, a P/E ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.50.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.02). HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.67% and a net margin of 6.84%. The firm had revenue of $73.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that HealthStream, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.031 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. HealthStream's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.05%.

HealthStream declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

HealthStream 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.