Health Catalyst (NASDAQ:HCAT) Trading 7.8% Higher – Should You Buy?

Health Catalyst, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCAT) traded up 7.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $8.56 and last traded at $8.55. 332,415 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 563,103 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.93.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on HCAT. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Health Catalyst from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Health Catalyst in a report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Health Catalyst from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Health Catalyst from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Health Catalyst from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.79.

Health Catalyst Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $8.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.36.

Health Catalyst (NASDAQ:HCAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $76.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.27 million. Health Catalyst had a negative net margin of 26.20% and a negative return on equity of 7.51%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Health Catalyst, Inc. will post -0.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kevin Lee Freeman sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $67,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 236,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,118,333. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Daniel Lesueur sold 5,209 shares of Health Catalyst stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.68, for a total value of $40,005.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 134,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,036,024.32. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,566 shares of company stock worth $169,130. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Health Catalyst

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Health Catalyst by 6.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Health Catalyst in the 2nd quarter valued at about $187,000. Nepsis Inc. raised its position in Health Catalyst by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 1,253,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 95,686 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Health Catalyst by 461.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 5,232 shares during the period. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Health Catalyst during the second quarter worth about $64,000. 85.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Health Catalyst

Health Catalyst, Inc provides data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations in the United States. It operates in two segments, Technology and Professional Services. The company provides data operating system data platform which provides clients single comprehensive environment to integrate and organize data from their disparate software systems; and analytics applications, a software analytics applications build for data platform to analyze clients face across clinical and quality, population health, and financial and operational use cases.