National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) Hits New 12-Month High Following Earnings Beat

National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $23.25 and last traded at $22.3080, with a volume of 68706 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.27.

The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $35.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 million. National Research had a return on equity of 122.73% and a net margin of 6.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp started coverage on National Research in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised National Research from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.00.

Institutional Trading of National Research

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NRC. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in shares of National Research during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,531,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its position in National Research by 374.3% during the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 237,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after acquiring an additional 187,147 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in National Research by 6.3% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 18,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in National Research in the second quarter valued at about $148,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in National Research in the second quarter worth about $34,000. 47.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

National Research Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $508.15 million, a PE ratio of 57.28 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

National Research Company Profile

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.