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

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 495,000 shares, a growth of 38.5% from the August 15th total of 357,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 117,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

HealthStream Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HSTM traded down $0.02 on Monday, reaching $28.76. The company had a trading volume of 10,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,934. The firm has a market capitalization of $874.25 million, a PE ratio of 49.62, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36. HealthStream has a 52-week low of $21.08 and a 52-week high of $31.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.39.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $71.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 million. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 6.26%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HealthStream will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at HealthStream

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on HSTM. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on HealthStream from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

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.