HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also commented on HSTM. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of HealthStream from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of HealthStream in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

HealthStream Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HSTM opened at $25.13 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $745.56 million, a PE ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.43. HealthStream has a fifty-two week low of $24.07 and a fifty-two week high of $34.24.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 5.70%. The company had revenue of $76.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.52 million. HealthStream has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HealthStream will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.031 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.65%.

Insider Activity at HealthStream

In other news, EVP Kevin P. O’hara sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total transaction of $55,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,321.89. This represents a 10.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 20.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HealthStream

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSTM. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HealthStream in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in HealthStream by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,407 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,702 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in HealthStream by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,625 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of HealthStream in the 2nd quarter worth $106,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HealthStream in the first quarter valued at about $161,000. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HealthStream Company Profile

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.