Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 76,736 Shares of 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWOU)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its position in 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWOU) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,296,327 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 76,736 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.06% of 2U worth $6,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of 2U by 131.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 126,320 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 71,696 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 2U by 14.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,759,732 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,347,000 after buying an additional 225,253 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of 2U in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 2U by 11.2% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 9,765,122 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $24,120,000 after buying an additional 981,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 2U by 37.2% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 215,142 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 58,331 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TWOU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 2U from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of 2U in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of 2U from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.31.

2U Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of TWOU stock opened at $0.24 on Wednesday. 2U, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.24 and a 12 month high of $6.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.00.

2U (NASDAQ:TWOU) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.07). 2U had a negative net margin of 33.58% and a negative return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $255.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.84 million. On average, analysts expect that 2U, Inc. will post -0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

2U Company Profile

2U, Inc operates as an online education platform company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Degree Program and Alternative Credential. The Degree Program segment provides the technology and services to nonprofit colleges and universities to enable the online delivery of degree programs.