171,082 National Research Corporation $NRC Shares Bought by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) by 51.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 501,731 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 171,082 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in National Research were worth $10,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in National Research by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 250,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,257,000 after buying an additional 9,730 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of National Research by 374.3% during the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 237,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,027,000 after buying an additional 187,147 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in National Research by 3.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 112,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,910,000 after acquiring an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in shares of National Research in the 1st quarter worth about $1,531,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in National Research by 61.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 62,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after purchasing an additional 23,682 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NRC. Wall Street Zen downgraded National Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of National Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of National Research from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of National Research from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

National Research Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NRC opened at $21.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.13, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $498.82 million, a P/E ratio of 87.72 and a beta of 0.25. National Research Corporation has a one year low of $11.32 and a one year high of $23.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.07.

National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.46. National Research had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 164.26%. The business had revenue of $35.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 million. Analysts anticipate that National Research Corporation will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Research Profile

National Research Corporation, formerly traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol NRC, provides research, analytics and performance-improvement services to the health care industry. Through its NRC Health business, the company helps hospitals, health systems and other care organizations understand and improve patient, consumer and employee experiences.

Its offerings have included patient and employee surveys, market research, reputation management, loyalty and engagement programs, benchmarking, and software tools that turn feedback and other data into operational insights.