Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 163,500 shares, a growth of 67.2% from the February 13th total of 97,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 127,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Huron Consulting Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:HURN traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $149.73. 231,191 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 121,679. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Huron Consulting Group has a one year low of $84.26 and a one year high of $153.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.93.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The business services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $399.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.62 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Huron Consulting Group will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HURN shares. Wedbush started coverage on Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Barrington Research increased their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $142.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark increased their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $155.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huron Consulting Group news, Director James H. Roth sold 8,642 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.93, for a total transaction of $1,243,843.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 64,921 shares in the company, valued at $9,344,079.53. This represents a 11.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $11,835,927.38. The trade was a 25.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 63,498 shares of company stock worth $9,202,526 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Huron Consulting Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 acquiring an additional 4,946 shares during the period. Sunriver Management LLC grew its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Sunriver Management LLC now owns 486,597 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $60,465,000 after acquiring an additional 46,968 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 445,694 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,447,000 after acquiring an additional 8,972 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huron Consulting Group Company Profile

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.