HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) Short Interest Up 38.5% in August

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 495,000 shares, an increase of 38.5% from the August 15th total of 357,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 117,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

HealthStream Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HSTM traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $28.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,934. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.39. HealthStream has a fifty-two week low of $21.08 and a fifty-two week high of $31.15. The company has a market capitalization of $874.25 million, a P/E ratio of 49.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.26% and a return on equity of 5.19%. The business had revenue of $71.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. HealthStream’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that HealthStream will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.028 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HSTM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of HealthStream from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered HealthStream from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Insider Activity at HealthStream

In other news, Director Tate Deborah Taylor sold 1,400 shares of HealthStream stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total value of $39,942.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,960.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Kevin P. O’hara sold 3,000 shares of HealthStream stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $84,090.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,041.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Tate Deborah Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $39,942.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,960.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 20.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HealthStream

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSTM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in HealthStream by 172.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 996 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in HealthStream by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in HealthStream in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in HealthStream by 405.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,709 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 2,173 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of HealthStream during the 1st quarter worth approximately $213,000. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.