Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $124.25.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Strategic Education from $104.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Strategic Education from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Strategic Education from $103.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of STRA stock opened at $98.11 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Strategic Education has a 1-year low of $64.53 and a 1-year high of $111.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.50.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The health services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $302.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.48 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 5.52%. Strategic Education’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 82.76%.

Insider Activity at Strategic Education

In other Strategic Education news, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 12,820 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.99, for a total transaction of $1,230,591.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,488,850.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 12,820 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.99, for a total value of $1,230,591.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,359 shares in the company, valued at $15,488,850.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 3,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $356,262.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 71,770 shares in the company, valued at $6,886,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Strategic Education by 6,377.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 178,182 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $16,459,000 after acquiring an additional 175,431 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Strategic Education by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,938 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,636 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 152.9% in the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,965 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,024 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 3.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,676 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 17,924 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,656,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.