Short Interest in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) Rises By 38.5%

HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of 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 daily volume of 117,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HSTM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of HealthStream from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered HealthStream from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total value of $39,942.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,960.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HealthStream news, SVP Kevin P. O’hara sold 3,000 shares of HealthStream stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total value of $84,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Tate Deborah Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $39,942.00. Following the sale, 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. 20.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of HealthStream in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. CWM LLC increased its position in HealthStream by 405.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,709 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 2,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in HealthStream during the second quarter valued at about $214,000. 69.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HealthStream Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:HSTM traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $28.81. 5,473 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 108,905. The company has a market capitalization of $875.77 million, a P/E ratio of 49.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36. HealthStream has a 12 month low of $21.08 and a 12 month high of $31.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.39.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. HealthStream had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 6.26%. The business had revenue of $71.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. HealthStream’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HealthStream will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

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

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.