Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) Stock Price Down 5% on Insider Selling

Shares of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) were down 5% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $141.11 and last traded at $141.13. Approximately 189,076 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 55% from the average daily volume of 122,200 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.55.

Specifically, Director James H. Roth sold 8,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.27, for a total transaction of $1,289,991.34. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,400,766.33. This trade represents a 13.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HURN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush initiated coverage on Huron Consulting Group in a report on Monday, February 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a report on Monday, March 10th. Benchmark raised their price target on Huron Consulting Group from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Huron Consulting Group from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Huron Consulting Group from $142.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Huron Consulting Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $155.50.

Huron Consulting Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $134.17 and a 200-day moving average of $122.12.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The business services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.38. Huron Consulting Group had a net margin of 5.80% and a return on equity of 21.51%. The company had revenue of $399.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $380.62 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huron Consulting Group Inc. will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huron Consulting Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HURN. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Huron Consulting Group by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 18,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 4,576 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Huron Consulting Group by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 574,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,394,000 after buying an additional 31,123 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Huron Consulting Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $457,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Huron Consulting Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $328,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Huron Consulting Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $879,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

About Huron Consulting Group

Huron Consulting Group Inc, a professional services firm, provides consultancy services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Education, and Commercial. The Healthcare segment provides financial and operational performance improvement consulting services; digital offerings, spanning technology and analytic-related services; software products; organizational transformation services; revenue cycle managed and outsourcing services; financial and capital advisory consulting services; and strategy and innovation consulting services to national and regional health systems, academic and community health systems, federal health system, public, children’s and critical access hospitals, physician practices and medical groups, payors, and long-term care or post-acute providers.