Wall Street Zen Upgrades QuinStreet (NASDAQ:QNST) to Buy

QuinStreet (NASDAQ:QNST) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded QuinStreet from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded QuinStreet from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.50.

QuinStreet Stock Performance

Shares of QNST stock opened at $15.50 on Friday. QuinStreet has a 1 year low of $10.28 and a 1 year high of $18.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $890.40 million, a P/E ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

QuinStreet (NASDAQ:QNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.14. QuinStreet had a net margin of 5.53% and a return on equity of 9.97%. The firm had revenue of $346.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that QuinStreet will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at QuinStreet

In other news, CFO Gregory Wong sold 22,057 shares of QuinStreet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.19, for a total transaction of $268,874.83. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 400,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,884,313.58. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QNST. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in QuinStreet by 619.0% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,441,113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,667 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of QuinStreet by 1,000.3% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 900,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,264 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of QuinStreet in the 1st quarter valued at $6,005,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of QuinStreet by 213.3% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 714,482 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,746,000 after purchasing an additional 486,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of QuinStreet by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,595,184 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $22,923,000 after purchasing an additional 472,407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.83% of the company’s stock.

About QuinStreet

QuinStreet, Inc operates a technology-based performance marketing platform that connects companies with prospective customers across multiple verticals. The company specializes in data-driven lead generation for financial services, education, insurance, healthcare, and home services firms. By leveraging proprietary targeting algorithms and real-time analytics, QuinStreet manages customized digital marketing campaigns to optimize customer acquisition and retention for its clients.

Through a portfolio of consumer-facing websites and comparison platforms, QuinStreet delivers targeted visitors who are actively researching products and services.