HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HSTM. Weiss Ratings raised shares of HealthStream from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Freedom Capital raised HealthStream to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of HealthStream in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Craig Hallum cut HealthStream from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on HealthStream from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

HealthStream Stock Down 0.5%

HSTM opened at $28.71 on Friday. HealthStream has a 52-week low of $19.50 and a 52-week high of $35.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.90. The company has a market cap of $879.39 million, a P/E ratio of 41.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.45.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The technology company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.25% and a return on equity of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $83.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.24 million. Research analysts anticipate that HealthStream will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.0350 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $0.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HealthStream

In other news, CEO Robert A. Frist, Jr. sold 144,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.50, for a total value of $4,250,006.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,907,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,257,621. This represents a 3.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Linda Rebrovick sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $420,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 39,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,376,515. The trade was a 23.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 194,149 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,892. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HealthStream

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSTM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HealthStream during the second quarter valued at about $111,184,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of HealthStream by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,456,043 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,156,000 after acquiring an additional 87,177 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 43.8% in the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,441,000 after acquiring an additional 389,186 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 0.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 477,848 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 21.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 377,945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,827,000 after acquiring an additional 65,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

HealthStream Company Profile

HealthStream, Inc. provides workforce solutions for healthcare organizations, with a focus on helping them educate, develop and manage their employees. Its offerings include online learning and training, talent and performance management, and tools for managing staff credentialing and compliance. The company’s products include the HealthStream Learning Center and solutions delivered through its hStream platform. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations use these services to support workforce education, professional development and operational processes.