National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on NRC. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on National Research from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of National Research from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

National Research Price Performance

Shares of NRC opened at $21.77 on Friday. National Research has a 12-month low of $11.01 and a 12-month high of $23.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.13. The stock has a market cap of $495.18 million, a PE ratio of 87.08 and a beta of 0.34.

National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.46. National Research had a return on equity of 164.26% and a net margin of 4.18%.The firm had revenue of $35.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 million.

National Research Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 25th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. National Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 256.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On National Research

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of National Research by 85.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of National Research by 9,535.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of National Research by 85.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of National Research in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in National Research in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 47.26% of the company’s stock.

About National Research

National Research Corp (NASDAQ: NRC), also known as NRC Health, is a healthcare analytics and performance improvement company specializing in patient and employee experience measurement. The company’s cloud-based platform enables healthcare providers to collect real-time feedback through patient satisfaction surveys, post-discharge outreach, and employee engagement tools. NRC Health integrates clinical, operational and financial data to deliver actionable insights that support quality improvement initiatives and value-based care programs.

Since its founding in the early 1990s and headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, National Research has expanded beyond its regional roots to serve more than 1,600 hospitals and 12,000 care sites across the United States and Canada.