Huron Consulting Group (HURN) Downgraded to “Sell” at Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

According to Zacks, “Huron Consulting Group Inc. is the parent company of Huron Consulting Services LLC, an independent provider of financial and operational consulting services. Huron’s experienced and credentialed professionals employ their expertise in accounting, finance, economics and operations to a wide variety of both financially sound and distressed organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized businesses, leading academic institutions, healthcare organizations and the law firms that represent these various organizations. “

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Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. BidaskClub raised shares of Huron Consulting Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 4th. ValuEngine raised shares of Huron Consulting Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 24th. TheStreet raised shares of Huron Consulting Group from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Friday, July 20th. Finally, SunTrust Banks reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Huron Consulting Group in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Huron Consulting Group has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $52.00.

Shares of Huron Consulting Group traded up $1.35, hitting $46.40, during trading hours on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. 206,800 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 112,938. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.12. Huron Consulting Group has a 12 month low of $29.52 and a 12 month high of $48.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $197.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.73 million. Huron Consulting Group had a negative net margin of 2.79% and a positive return on equity of 8.02%. Huron Consulting Group’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. sell-side analysts forecast that Huron Consulting Group will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, CEO James H. Roth sold 17,500 shares of Huron Consulting Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.55, for a total transaction of $709,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 222,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,038,473.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 43.0% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 133,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,073,000 after buying an additional 40,009 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 4.4% during the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,012,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $76,673,000 after buying an additional 84,488 shares during the last quarter. Stone Ridge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Huron Consulting Group during the fourth quarter worth $210,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 421,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,071,000 after buying an additional 6,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Huron Consulting Group by 8.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,400,183 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,347,000 after buying an additional 113,750 shares during the last quarter. 90.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huron Consulting Group Company Profile

Huron Consulting Group Inc, a professional services firm, provides advisory, technology, and analytic solutions in the United States and internationally. Its Healthcare segment provides advisory services in the areas of strategy, care transformation, financial and operational performance, technology and analytics, and leadership development to national and regional hospitals, integrated health systems, academic medical centers, community hospitals, and medical groups.

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Why Hanes Is Getting Crushed

When Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HNS) reported its most recent quarterly results before the markets opened on Wednesday, the apparel maker said that it had $0.45 in earnings per share (EPS) and $1.72 billion in revenue.

The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.46 in EPS on revenue of $1.71 billion for the second quarter. In the same period of last year, it posted EPS of $0.53 and $1.65 billion in revenue.

In terms of its segments, the company reported:

U.S. Innerwear segment sales decreased 3 percent, while operating profit decreased 10 percent as a result of raw material inflation and mix of products sold. U.S. Activewear segment sales increased 7 percent, including a 1.5 percent increase in organic sales fueled by growth of Champion and the licensed sports apparel business. International segment sales increased 15 percent and operating profit increased 27 percent. In constant currency, sales increased 12 percent and operating profit increased 24 percent.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company expects to see net sales between $1.85 billion and $1.9 billion with EPS in the range of $0.54 to $0.57. The consensus estimates are $0.56 in EPS and $1.88 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Gerald W. Evans Jr., Hanes CEO, commented:

Our results for the second-quarter were consistent with our guidance and the year is unfolding as we expected. We achieved organic growth for the fourth consecutive quarter with strong International and global Champion sales growth. We continue to address the challenging environment for intimate apparel and expect our turn-around plan to gain additional traction by the end of the year. Our cash flow from operations of $64 million in the second quarter was ahead of our expectations and the outlook is strong. We continue to expect margin expansion in the second half, primarily driven by additional acquisition synergies and organic sales growth.

Shares of Hanesbrands were last seen down about 19% at $17.98 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $22.71 and a 52-week target range of $16.38 to $25.73.

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