Exploring Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?

You're looking at Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) and wondering why the institutional money is moving the way it is, especially when the stock price has dropped a brutal 72.19% over the last year, trading near its 52-week low of $2.02 as of mid-November 2025. It's a classic value-versus-risk puzzle: the company just reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance, projecting total revenue of approximately $310 million and Adjusted EBITDA of about $41 million, but the market capitalization is sitting at a mere $160.2 million. So, who's buying and who's running for the exits? We see a fascinating split among the 327 institutional owners: while behemoths like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. remain top shareholders with 5,503,403 and 4,295,691 shares respectively, the most recent quarter showed more institutions, 79, decreasing their positions than adding to them. Honestly, the divergence between the company's solid Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $12.0 million and the stock's performance tells you everything you need to know about the current investor skepticism surrounding growth in the healthcare data and analytics space. Let's dig into the $111 million in total institutional holdings to map out the real risk and opportunity here.

Who Invests in Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) and Why?

You're looking at Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) and wondering who's actually buying this stock, especially with the volatility we've seen. The direct takeaway is that HCAT is overwhelmingly an institutional play, driven by a classic 'growth-to-profitability' transition story in the specialized healthcare data analytics market.

The investor base is not what you'd call a retail crowd. Institutional investors-the big money like mutual funds, pension funds, and asset managers-hold the vast majority, controlling between 73% and 78.61% of the shares outstanding as of late 2025. That means their trading actions, whether buying or selling, are the primary force moving the stock price. Honestly, retail investors have a minimal direct impact here.

Insider ownership, which is a good signal for management alignment, sits in the range of 3.42% to 7.71%. It's good to see management and directors have skin in the game, but the real power rests with the institutions.

Key Investor Types and Their Dominance

When you break down the institutional ownership, you see a mix of passive giants and active, specialized managers. This blend tells you a lot about the stock's profile: it's a small-cap technology name that has made it into major indices, but still attracts dedicated sector expertise.

Here's a quick look at the major players and their approximate holdings, based on filings up to September 2025:

• First Light Asset Management, LLC: The largest holder, with a stake of around 19.00%. This is a specialized, active manager betting big on the company's turnaround and technology platform.
• BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc: These two passive giants collectively own a substantial chunk, with BlackRock, Inc. holding about 7.78% and Vanguard Group Inc holding around 6.07%. This is mostly passive money, buying HCAT because it's part of the Russell 2000 or other index funds.
• Hedge Funds: This group owns about 5.3% of the shares. They are the most active and often look for medium-term catalysts.

The presence of these large, passive index funds like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc means a portion of the stock is held for the long haul, simply tracking the market. But the big, concentrated holdings by active funds like First Light Asset Management, LLC show a high-conviction bet on the company's specific strategy.

Investment Motivations: The Shift to Profitability

What's attracting this money? It's a classic value-meets-growth story in the high-demand healthcare data space. The motivation is less about explosive, top-line growth right now and more about the shift to sustainable profitability and the strength of the core technology business.

The 2025 fiscal year guidance is the clear catalyst here. Management has been laser-focused on efficiency and margin expansion, and the numbers reflect that push:

• Full-Year Adjusted EBITDA: Projected to hit approximately $41 million for the full year 2025, which represents a massive 57% year-over-year increase. This is the key metric active investors are watching.
• Technology Segment Strength: The core Technology Revenue grew 7% year-over-year to $52.1 million in Q3 2025, while the Professional Services revenue declined as the company exits less profitable contracts. Investors like seeing this mix shift toward higher-margin software.
• Improved Margins: The Adjusted Gross Margin increased by approximately 510 basis points year-over-year to 53% in Q3 2025. Higher margins mean better long-term cash flow.

Here's the quick math: the company is guiding for full-year 2025 total revenue of approximately $310 million, which is essentially flat growth, but the profitability jump is huge. This is a bet on operational efficiency, not a revenue boom.

Strategies: Active Bets on a Turnaround

The strategies employed by HCAT shareholders are split between passive indexing and active, catalyst-driven investing. The stock's significant decline-down over 72% in the year leading up to November 2025-has created a classic value opportunity for some active funds.

The active investors, including the hedge funds, are employing a clear turnaround strategy. They are betting on a few key actions:

• Value Investing: Buying a stock that has been beaten down, but where the underlying technology (healthcare data and analytics) remains valuable, especially with the strong Adjusted EBITDA growth.
• Catalyst-Driven Investing: Focusing on the success of the 'Ignite' platform migration and the company's ability to add new platform clients (projected to be approximately 30 net new platform clients in 2025). They are looking for a medium-term event to re-rate the stock.
• Active Management: The recent trend shows a high churn rate among active institutional holders, with 68 adding shares and 79 decreasing positions in a single quarter. This suggests a lot of short-term, active trading around earnings and guidance updates.

If you want to dive deeper into the financial health that's driving these decisions, you should read Breaking Down Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. It's defintely the next step to understanding the risk/reward profile here.

Institutional Ownership and Major Shareholders of Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT)

You need to know who truly owns the stock you're investing in, and for Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT), that answer is overwhelmingly institutional investors. This group-which includes mutual funds, pension funds, and asset managers-holds a significant majority stake, meaning their trading actions are the primary driver of the stock price.

As of late 2025, institutional ownership of Health Catalyst is exceptionally high, sitting between 73% and 85.00% of the total shares outstanding. This concentration of power means these large entities are 'market movers' who can strongly influence board decisions and the company's strategic direction. When a few major players decide to buy or sell, the stock moves fast. For a deeper dive into the company's operational strength, you should read Breaking Down Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Top Institutional Investors and Their Shareholdings

The shareholder base is dominated by a few major financial powerhouses. As of the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, the top three institutional holders alone control a substantial portion of the company. Here's the quick math on who holds the most sway, based on September 30, 2025, filings:

• First Light Asset Management, LLC is the largest shareholder, holding 13,436,220 shares.
• BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest, with a position of 5,503,403 shares.
• Vanguard Group Inc. rounds out the top three, holding 4,295,691 shares.

The total value of institutional holdings was approximately $153.25 million as of September 30, 2025. That's a lot of capital riding on HCAT's performance, especially given the company's market capitalization fell to around US$212 million following a September 2025 pullback.

Recent Changes in Institutional Ownership

The third quarter of 2025 saw mixed signals from these big investors, which is typical in a volatile stock environment. While some major funds were adding to their positions, a greater number were reducing or exiting. Specifically, 74 institutional investors added to their positions, but 96 decreased them in the most recent quarter. Overall, the total institutional shares (Long) decreased by 4.24 million shares, or -6.31% quarter-over-quarter. This net selling pressure is a clear indicator of caution.

Honesty, when more funds are heading for the exit than are stepping in, you need to pay attention. For example, while First Light Asset Management, LLC was accumulating shares, other large holders like PRIMECAP Management Co/CA/ removed 617,620 shares from their portfolio. This divergence shows a lack of consensus on the stock's near-term trajectory following Q3 2025 results, where the company reported total revenue of $76.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $12 million.

The Impact of Institutional Investors on Strategy

The substantial institutional stake gives these shareholders significant leverage, and they defintely use it. With over three-quarters of the company's stock in their hands, they have the collective power to influence major corporate decisions, from capital allocation to executive compensation and even potential mergers. Their primary goal is maximizing returns, so they are acutely sensitive to performance metrics.

The recent stock performance-a decline of 72.19% from November 2024 to November 2025, with the share price at $2.35 per share-has put enormous pressure on this group. When a stock drops that hard, institutional investors, especially those with a mandate to track an index, may be forced to sell to manage their portfolio risk. This selling creates a downward spiral that hurts individual investors. The risk is that continued poor performance could lead to activist pressure for a strategic shift, a change in management, or even a sale of the company to unlock value. Your next step should be to monitor 13D filings (Schedule 13D), which signal an investor intends to actively pursue a change in business strategy.

Key Investors and Their Impact on Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT)

The investor profile for Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) is defintely dominated by institutional money, which means the stock's near-term movements are highly sensitive to a small group of large players. You need to know who these investors are because their collective decisions-especially their recent moves in Q3 2025-tell a clear story about conviction in the company's turnaround and its push for profitability.

Institutions, including mutual funds and hedge funds, own a commanding majority of the company, holding between 73% and 77.23% of the shares outstanding. This concentration is a double-edged sword: it provides a stable base of sophisticated capital, but any large-scale selling can crush the stock price quickly. Right now, the market capitalization is relatively small, making it easier for these big funds to act as market movers.

The Largest Holders: First Light, BlackRock, and Vanguard

The top of the shareholder list is anchored by a few significant firms, each with a distinct investment style. The largest single institutional holder is First Light Asset Management, LLC, which holds a substantial stake of approximately 13.44 million shares, representing about 19.30% of the company as of the end of Q3 2025. This is a massive vote of confidence from a single fund.

Following them are the index and passive giants, whose influence comes from their sheer size and mandate to track the market. These include:

• BlackRock, Inc.: Holding about 5.50 million shares, or around 7.90%.
• The Vanguard Group, Inc.: Holding about 4.30 million shares, or around 6.17%.

While BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are typically passive investors (filing a Schedule 13G), their combined stake of over 14% means they are crucial to any major corporate decision, like the recent shareholder vote to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. You can read more about the foundation of this ownership structure at Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Investor Influence: The Push for Profitability

The primary influence of these major investors right now is a strong push for operational efficiency and a clear path to non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) profitability. The high institutional ownership means management is constantly accountable for execution, especially after a year where the stock lost a lot of ground.

The focus is squarely on the company's guidance for the full 2025 fiscal year, which projects total revenue of approximately $310 million and Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of around $41 million. This Adjusted EBITDA figure is a key metric the market is watching, as it signals a significant improvement in operational leverage, with Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA already hitting $12.0 million, a 64% increase year-over-year. The institutional money is buying into the story that Health Catalyst, Inc. can deliver on this margin expansion, even if GAAP net loss widened to $(22.2 million) in Q3 2025.

Recent Notable Moves and the Hedge Fund Factor

The most telling data comes from the recent trading activity in Q3 2025, which shows a sharp divergence in strategy among the hedge funds and active managers. This is where the real near-term risk and opportunity lies. Hedge funds, which collectively own about 5.3% of the company, are the most likely to drive volatility.

Here's a quick look at the contrasting moves from the most recent quarter:

The massive buy-in by MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC-a more than 25-fold increase in their position-suggests a strong belief that the stock is undervalued at its current price and that the profitability targets are achievable. But, to be fair, the complete exit by Portolan Capital Management, LLC shows that not everyone is convinced. This push-and-pull creates volatility, and you saw this play out when the stock recently rose 15% in a single day, likely fueled by one of these large institutional moves. The action item for you is to monitor the next round of 13F filings for Q4 2025 to see if the net buying trend continues among the active managers.

Market Impact and Investor Sentiment

You are looking at Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) because the stock has been a rollercoaster, and you want to know if the big money is buying the dip or heading for the exits. The short answer is: institutional sentiment is highly divided, leading to a consensus 'Hold' rating from Wall Street analysts, but the core financial story is showing operational improvement despite revenue headwinds.

The institutional ownership is significant, hovering around 85.00% of the company's stock, which means the stock price is defintely sensitive to their trading actions. We saw this split clearly in the last reporting period: 68 institutional investors added shares to their portfolios in Q2 2025, but 79 simultaneously decreased their positions, showing a nearly even battle between conviction and caution.

• Institutional money drives the price.
• Sentiment is split between buyers and sellers.

Who is Buying Health Catalyst, Inc. and Why?

The investor profile for Health Catalyst, Inc. is dominated by asset managers and specialized funds betting on a successful transition to the higher-margin technology platform. First Light Asset Management, LLC is the largest holder, but you also see giants like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. holding significant stakes. These large, passive index and active quantitative funds anchor the stock, providing a floor, but their buying is often programmatic.

The more active players, like Whetstone Capital Advisors, LLC, are the ones to watch; they added over 2 million shares in Q2 2025, signaling a strong belief in the turnaround story. They are likely buying because the stock is trading at a significant discount to its 52-week high of $9.02. Here's the quick math on the top institutional holders as of the Q3 2025 reporting date:

For a deeper dive into the company's balance sheet, you should check out Breaking Down Health Catalyst, Inc. (HCAT) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Recent Market Reactions and Volatility

The stock's recent performance shows extreme volatility, which is typical for a growth company navigating a product transition. The stock has dropped a brutal 44.2% in the six months leading up to November 2025, which has rattled many shareholders. Still, the market reacted positively to the Q3 2025 earnings report released in November 2025. Health Catalyst, Inc. reported Q3 revenue of $76.32 million and Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of $12 million, both beating guidance.

The positive Q3 results were a relief, but the stock's volatility is also driven by macro factors. For example, in November 2025, the stock jumped 15.8% in a single day, not on company news, but due to comments from a Federal Reserve official that bolstered hopes for a rate cut. This tells you that while the fundamental story is improving, the stock trades like a high-beta growth name, making it a tricky near-term holding.

Analyst Perspectives on Investor Impact and Future

The consensus from the analyst community is a 'Hold,' but the average 12-month price target is around $4.00 to $4.55, implying a potential upside of over 76% from the mid-November 2025 price of approximately $2.27. Analysts are essentially saying: the risk is high, but the reward is substantial if management executes.

The key driver for this potential upside is the ongoing shift from the legacy Data Operating System (DOS) to the new Ignite platform. Management is focused on this transition because the Ignite platform boasts a much higher Adjusted Technology Gross Margin of 68%, compared to the DOS platform's margin. This margin expansion is why the company reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance for Adjusted EBITDA at approximately $41 million, even with a total revenue guidance of approximately $310 million. The large institutional holders are keenly watching these margin metrics, not just the top line. If the Ignite migration stalls, those large holders will be the first to pressure the stock.