Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC) Downgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC – Get Rating) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barrington Research reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $8.50 price target on shares of Lincoln Educational Services in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Educational Services from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th.

Lincoln Educational Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LINC opened at $5.86 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.05. Lincoln Educational Services has a fifty-two week low of $4.59 and a fifty-two week high of $7.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.66 million, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.07.

Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.07. Lincoln Educational Services had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 10.66%. The business had revenue of $91.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Educational Services will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Chad D. Nyce sold 42,612 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.14, for a total value of $261,637.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $991,511.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 29.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Educational Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Educational Services in the first quarter valued at $76,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Educational Services in the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Educational Services during the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Educational Services during the second quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Educational Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.87% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Educational Services

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Lincoln Educational Services Corp. engages in the provision of a career-oriented post-secondary education to recent high school graduates and working adults. It operates through the following segments: Transportation and Skilled Trades, Healthcare and Other Professions, and Corporate. The Transportation and Skilled Trades segment offers academic programs mainly in the disciplines of transportation and skilled trades such as automotive, diesel, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, welding, and manufacturing.