Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) Receives “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $17.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

HCSG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Healthcare Services Group from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Healthcare Services Group from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $14.50.

Healthcare Services Group Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ:HCSG opened at $10.79 on Thursday. Healthcare Services Group has a 12-month low of $8.75 and a 12-month high of $13.86. The firm has a market cap of $794.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.12.

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $426.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.94 million. Healthcare Services Group had a net margin of 1.82% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Healthcare Services Group’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Healthcare Services Group will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCSG. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 537.7% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 134,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 113,514 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Healthcare Services Group by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,599,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,592,000 after buying an additional 111,625 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Healthcare Services Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,259,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,629,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,488,000 after buying an additional 167,779 shares during the period. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Healthcare Services Group in the fourth quarter worth $4,216,000. 97.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Healthcare Services Group

Healthcare Services Group, Inc provides management, administrative, and operating services to the housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary service departments of nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals in the United States. It operates through two segments, Housekeeping and Dietary.