Performant Financial Co. (NASDAQ:PFMT) Short Interest Update

Performant Financial Co. (NASDAQ:PFMT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,040,000 shares, a growth of 18.0% from the September 30th total of 881,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 139,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Performant Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Performant Financial by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 582,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 8,753 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Performant Financial by 0.7% in the third quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 2,065,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,724,000 after buying an additional 13,936 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 20,637 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Performant Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Performant Financial by 18.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 31,075 shares in the last quarter. 77.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum raised Performant Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Performant Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company.

Performant Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PFMT traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.86. 75,226 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 174,009. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $297.95 million, a P/E ratio of -43.11 and a beta of 0.13. Performant Financial has a 52-week low of $2.14 and a 52-week high of $4.04.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $29.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.20 million. Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 8.11% and a negative net margin of 5.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.05) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Performant Financial will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Performant Financial Company Profile

Performant Financial Corporation provides technology-enabled audit, recovery, and analytics services in the United States. The company identifies improper payments resulting from incorrect coding, procedures that were not medically necessary, incomplete documentation or claims submitted based on outdated fee schedules, and coverage discrepancies; and provides first party call center and other outsourced services.