HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

HealthStream Trading Down 1.0 %

HSTM opened at $27.82 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.69. HealthStream has a 12-month low of $20.47 and a 12-month high of $29.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $845.73 million, a P/E ratio of 47.97, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.38.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.07. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 6.30%. The firm had revenue of $72.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that HealthStream will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

HealthStream Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.028 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. HealthStream’s payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Scott Fenstermacher sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total transaction of $26,190.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $340,679.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 20.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HealthStream

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in HealthStream by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 58,816 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of HealthStream by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 194,988 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,208,000 after buying an additional 4,717 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of HealthStream by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 407,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,013,000 after buying an additional 52,652 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of HealthStream by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 309,774 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,685,000 after buying an additional 10,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HealthStream in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $351,000. 69.58% of the stock is currently 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.