Ameriprise Financial Inc. Trims Holdings in HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,747 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 40,216 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.61% of HealthStream worth $5,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSTM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HealthStream by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,055,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,151,000 after purchasing an additional 92,067 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in HealthStream by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 694,274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $22,082,000 after purchasing an additional 19,510 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in HealthStream by 17,363.4% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 379,306 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,062,000 after purchasing an additional 377,134 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 306,440 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,745,000 after acquiring an additional 36,239 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of HealthStream by 3,889.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 300,070 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,534,000 after acquiring an additional 292,548 shares during the period. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HSTM. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of HealthStream in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of HealthStream from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of HealthStream in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HealthStream currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

HealthStream Stock Performance

HSTM opened at $27.35 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.89. HealthStream, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.84 and a 1 year high of $34.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $834.86 million, a PE ratio of 42.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.50.

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $73.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.93 million. HealthStream had a net margin of 6.84% and a return on equity of 5.67%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HealthStream, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HealthStream Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.031 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. HealthStream’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.05%.

HealthStream announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 8th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HealthStream Profile

HealthStream, Inc provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company’s solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs.