Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) Short Interest Up 6.5% in July

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the June 30th total of 2,010,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 589,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Healthcare Services Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HCSG. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Healthcare Services Group during the first quarter worth $27,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in Healthcare Services Group during the first quarter worth $55,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,714 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Healthcare Services Group during the second quarter worth $124,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. 97.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Healthcare Services Group Stock Performance

Shares of HCSG traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $11.16. 75,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 558,139. Healthcare Services Group has a 12-month low of $8.75 and a 12-month high of $13.01. The company has a market cap of $818.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.16.

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. Healthcare Services Group had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 1.82%. The firm had revenue of $426.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Healthcare Services Group will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on HCSG shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Healthcare Services Group from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Healthcare Services Group in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Healthcare Services Group from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.50.

Healthcare Services Group Company Profile

Healthcare Services Group, Inc provides management, administrative, and operating services to the housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary service departments of nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals in the United States. It operates through two segments, Housekeeping and Dietary.