Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG – Get Rating) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Healthcare Services Group were worth $251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HCSG. Marathon Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in Healthcare Services Group by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,807,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,689,000 after buying an additional 245,122 shares in the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC increased its position in Healthcare Services Group by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 159,234 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 41,449 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Healthcare Services Group by 256.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 671,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,063,000 after purchasing an additional 97,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Healthcare Services Group by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,911 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Healthcare Services Group from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $8.50 to $14.00 in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Healthcare Services Group from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Healthcare Services Group in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Healthcare Services Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Healthcare Services Group from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Healthcare Services Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.60.

Healthcare Services Group Price Performance

Shares of HCSG opened at $14.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27 and a beta of 0.37. Healthcare Services Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.55 and a 1-year high of $18.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.24 and a 200 day moving average of $13.58.

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The business services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. Healthcare Services Group had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $417.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $423.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Healthcare Services Group, Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Healthcare Services Group

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Healthcare Services Group, Inc engages in the provision of keeping, laundry, and dietary services to long-term care and related health care facilities. It operates through the following business segments: Housekeeping and Dietary. The Housekeeping segment consists of the management of the client’s housekeeping department, which is responsible for the cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing of patient rooms and common areas of a client facility, as well as the laundering and processing of the personal clothing belonging to the facility’s patients.