Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Strategic Education from $104.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barrington Research lifted their price target on Strategic Education from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Strategic Education from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Strategic Education from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Strategic Education from $103.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $131.75.

Strategic Education Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ STRA opened at $121.06 on Friday. Strategic Education has a 12-month low of $64.53 and a 12-month high of $121.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.36.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The health services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.51. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 6.78% and a net margin of 8.70%. The firm had revenue of $290.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.02 million. Equities research analysts expect that Strategic Education will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 56.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Strategic Education

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STRA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Strategic Education by 6,377.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 178,182 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $16,459,000 after purchasing an additional 175,431 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in Strategic Education by 88.4% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 26,938 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,636 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Strategic Education by 3.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Strategic Education by 0.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About Strategic Education

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.