Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 345,927 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,349 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Healthcare Services Group were worth $3,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Azarias Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Healthcare Services Group by 50.7% during the 2nd quarter. Azarias Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,226,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,979,000 after purchasing an additional 412,704 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in Healthcare Services Group by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,318,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,983,000 after purchasing an additional 142,997 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Healthcare Services Group by 9.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,057,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,766,000 after acquiring an additional 181,231 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Healthcare Services Group in the second quarter worth approximately $971,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Healthcare Services Group by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 3,284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HCSG. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Healthcare Services Group from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Healthcare Services Group in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Healthcare Services Group from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Healthcare Services Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.00.

Healthcare Services Group Stock Performance

Shares of HCSG stock opened at $11.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $844.30 million, a P/E ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 0.52. Healthcare Services Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.98 and a 52-week high of $13.00.

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $428.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $429.95 million. Healthcare Services Group had a net margin of 2.95% and a return on equity of 12.59%. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Healthcare Services Group, Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

About Healthcare Services Group

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.