National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $27.60 and last traded at $27.2950, with a volume of 25,882 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $26.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NRC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of National Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of National Research from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of National Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of National Research from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

National Research Stock Up 1.3%

The stock has a market cap of $618.91 million, a PE ratio of 97.12 and a beta of 0.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.89 and a 200-day moving average of $19.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.13.

National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.03. National Research had a return on equity of 313.25% and a net margin of 4.48%. The company had revenue of $38.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.80 million. Equities research analysts predict that National Research Corporation will post 0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

National Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 29th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 29th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. National Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 228.57%.

Institutional Trading of National Research

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NRC. Simplex Trading LLC raised its position in National Research by 556.4% in the 3rd quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 2,782 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in National Research by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 112,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,910,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in National Research by 4.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 250,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,257,000 after purchasing an additional 9,730 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in National Research in the first quarter valued at $180,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in National Research in the first quarter valued at $226,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.26% of the company’s stock.

About National Research

National Research Corporation, which operates as NRC Health, provides experience-management and consumer-insights services to organizations in the health care industry. Its research and technology help clients understand how patients, health care consumers and employees perceive their services. The company’s offerings include patient and consumer surveys, employee-engagement research, reputation measurement, analytics and related advisory services. Hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations use these tools to identify opportunities to improve service and strengthen relationships with the communities they serve.