UBS Group Begins Coverage on Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR)

Investment analysts at UBS Group started coverage on shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 17.10% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Laureate Education from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of LAUR opened at $29.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.87. Laureate Education has a 52-week low of $15.15 and a 52-week high of $30.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.58.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 29.46% and a net margin of 16.41%.The business had revenue of $524.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $502.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Laureate Education’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laureate Education

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 0.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 489,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,453,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Laureate Education by 1,050.4% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 21,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 19,338 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in Laureate Education by 3.0% in the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 194,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,596 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in Laureate Education by 114.0% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 106,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 56,962 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Laureate Education by 323.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 49,300 shares during the period. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.