Short Interest in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) Drops By 22.1%

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 669,100 shares, a decrease of 22.1% from the January 31st total of 858,600 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 124,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HSTM. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of HealthStream in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on HealthStream from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of HealthStream in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.00.

HealthStream Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of HealthStream stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.83. The stock had a trading volume of 150,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 136,584. HealthStream has a 12 month low of $23.92 and a 12 month high of $34.24. The firm has a market cap of $999.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.37. The business's 50-day moving average is $32.65 and its 200 day moving average is $31.00.

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HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.03. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.67% and a net margin of 6.84%. The firm had revenue of $74.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that HealthStream will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

HealthStream Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.031 dividend. This is a positive change from HealthStream's previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. HealthStream's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.18%.

Institutional Trading of HealthStream

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in HealthStream during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HealthStream during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HealthStream during the 4th quarter valued at about $114,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in HealthStream by 1,074.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,747 shares of the technology company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 3,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in HealthStream in the fourth quarter worth approximately $183,000. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About HealthStream

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.