Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) Short Interest Up 29.6% in March

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 483,000 shares, a growth of 29.6% from the March 15th total of 372,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 202,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John Mccartney sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.67, for a total transaction of $71,335.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 52,121 shares in the company, valued at $7,436,103.07. This represents a 0.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C. Mark Hussey sold 27,672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.91, for a total value of $4,037,621.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 81,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,835,927.38. This trade represents a 25.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,781 shares of company stock worth $11,484,452 over the last three months. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HURN. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 601,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,722,000 after acquiring an additional 27,329 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 543,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $67,503,000 after buying an additional 4,946 shares during the last quarter. Sunriver Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Sunriver Management LLC now owns 486,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,465,000 after acquiring an additional 46,968 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 460,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,240,000 after acquiring an additional 64,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 445,694 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,447,000 after purchasing an additional 8,972 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HURN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $167.00 target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $169.25.

Huron Consulting Group Price Performance

Shares of HURN opened at $139.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Huron Consulting Group has a fifty-two week low of $84.26 and a fifty-two week high of $153.85. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $141.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.80.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The business services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.38. Huron Consulting Group had a return on equity of 21.51% and a net margin of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $399.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.62 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Huron Consulting Group will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.