Huron Consulting Group’s (HURN) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $140.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HURN. Barrington Research boosted their target price on shares of Huron Consulting Group from $128.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Huron Consulting Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th.

Huron Consulting Group Stock Down 6.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ HURN opened at $87.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09 and a beta of 0.59. Huron Consulting Group has a one year low of $70.66 and a one year high of $113.31. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.49.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $355.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.80 million. Huron Consulting Group had a net margin of 4.67% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Huron Consulting Group will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C. Mark Hussey sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total transaction of $417,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,268,921.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director James H. Roth sold 6,804 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $646,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,968,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C. Mark Hussey sold 4,000 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total value of $417,920.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,268,921.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,080 shares of company stock worth $3,939,636 over the last ninety days. 2.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huron Consulting Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HURN. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $481,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Huron Consulting Group in the third quarter worth about $228,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 44,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,593 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Huron Consulting Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,509,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Huron Consulting Group by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.