HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) Stock Price Up 7.5% on Earnings Beat

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) rose 7.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $26.72 and last traded at $25.91. Approximately 56,462 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 100,298 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.11.

The technology company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.07. HealthStream had a return on equity of 4.71% and a net margin of 5.45%. The firm had revenue of $72.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. HealthStream’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis.

HealthStream Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.028 dividend. This is an increase from HealthStream’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. HealthStream’s payout ratio is presently 22.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on HSTM. StockNews.com upgraded HealthStream from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays initiated coverage on HealthStream in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of HealthStream in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Insider Transactions at HealthStream

In other HealthStream news, EVP Michael Sousa sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total value of $408,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,525 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,806.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HealthStream news, EVP Michael Sousa sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.25, for a total value of $408,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,525 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,806.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Trisha L. Coady sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.34, for a total value of $184,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $387,013.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 20.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in HealthStream by 568.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in HealthStream during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in HealthStream by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of HealthStream during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of HealthStream during the first quarter valued at about $213,000. Institutional investors own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

HealthStream Stock Up 8.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $797.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $26.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.85.

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.