Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in HealthStream, Inc. $HSTM

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,536,901 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 448,181 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 8.55% of HealthStream worth $58,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in HealthStream by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 887,553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,476,000 after acquiring an additional 51,470 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in HealthStream by 74.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 432,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,223,000 after acquiring an additional 184,917 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in HealthStream by 0.7% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 409,398 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in HealthStream by 9.0% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 274,548 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,753,000 after acquiring an additional 22,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in HealthStream by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 222,575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,135,000 after acquiring an additional 34,669 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

HealthStream Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ HSTM opened at $22.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.46. The stock has a market cap of $663.18 million, a P/E ratio of 33.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.41. HealthStream, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.50 and a 12-month high of $29.63.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 6.47%. The firm had revenue of $81.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.68 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HealthStream, Inc. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

HealthStream declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, March 13th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

HealthStream Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSTM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of HealthStream from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of HealthStream from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of HealthStream to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, HealthStream has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

HealthStream Profile

HealthStream, Inc is a Nashville, Tennessee–based provider of workforce development and learning management solutions for healthcare organizations. Since its founding in 1990, the company has focused on helping hospitals, clinics and other care providers streamline staff training, ensure regulatory compliance and monitor employee performance. HealthStream’s platform integrates online courses, skill competency assessments and credential management tools to support workforce readiness across the healthcare continuum.

The company’s core offerings include a learning management system (LMS) designed specifically for clinical and nonclinical personnel, a competency management suite that tracks skill acquisition and validation, and a content library featuring evidence-based clinical and compliance training modules.