HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 606,000 shares, an increase of 13.1% from the October 31st total of 535,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 131,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

HealthStream Stock Performance

Shares of HSTM stock opened at $33.16 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.95. HealthStream has a 52 week low of $23.92 and a 52 week high of $33.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.38.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.06. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.67% and a net margin of 6.84%. The company had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.53 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. HealthStream’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that HealthStream will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.028 dividend. This represents a $0.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HealthStream

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of HealthStream in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 172.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 996 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of HealthStream in the second quarter worth $38,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in HealthStream in the third quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of HealthStream by 405.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,709 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HSTM. Craig Hallum raised shares of HealthStream to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of HealthStream from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of HealthStream from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HealthStream presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

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.