12 Best Consulting Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

6. Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 26

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) is a professional services company. The firm offers expertise in technology, operations, advisory services, and analytics across three operational segments: healthcare, education, and commercial. The healthcare segment assists enterprises in transforming and innovating delivery models to focus on patient well-being by increasing quality outcomes, decreasing care variance, and fundamentally improving patient and population health. The Education part offers management consulting and technology solutions, while the Commercial segment focuses on supporting industries and organizations undergoing upheaval and regulatory change. The healthcare segment accounts for the vast majority of company revenue. The stock is up over 15% year to date, making it one of the Best Consulting Stocks on our list.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN) announced revenue before reimbursable expenses in Q4 2024, up 14.5%, while full-year RBR jumped 9.1%, marking the fourth straight year of high single-digit or better growth. The healthcare division led with a record RBR of $756 million, up 12% YoY, including a rise of 18% in Q4. The Education category also performed well, with RBR increasing 10.4% to a record $474.2 million due to high demand for digital, strategy, and operational services. The firm returned more than $122 million to shareholders through share repurchases, and its stock price improved 21% by 2024. Additionally, adjusted EBITDA margins rose by 120 basis points to 13.5%, marking the fourth consecutive year of margin expansion.

Truist upgraded Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HURN)’s price objective to $180 from $165 and maintained a Buy rating on the stock following its Q4 earnings beat. Its core Healthcare and Higher Education industries are expected to grow faster than originally projected due to improvements in federal expenditure, according to a research note. A 15% cap on overhead charges for NIH funding to academic medical centers could stimulate larger enterprise projects at universities, while projected federal healthcare spending cuts could boost demand for performance improvement services at hospitals until 2027, according to the firm.