Brokerages Set Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) PT at $92.67

Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.6667.

STRA has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of STRA stock opened at $83.20 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $80.53 and its 200-day moving average is $80.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Strategic Education has a 52 week low of $72.17 and a 52 week high of $93.45.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The health services provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.27. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 8.75% and a net margin of 9.98%.The company had revenue of $311.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $322.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio is 44.28%.

Insider Transactions at Strategic Education

In other news, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.37, for a total transaction of $1,070,810.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 100,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,244,907.52. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 38,840 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $2,926,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,332 shares in the company, valued at $8,012,116.20. The trade was a 26.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 62,420 shares of company stock worth $4,843,218. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bastion Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the third quarter valued at about $1,175,000. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 155.7% in the third quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 234,719 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $20,188,000 after buying an additional 142,915 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 158.3% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 25,438 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,188,000 after buying an additional 15,588 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 438.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,531 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $4,935,000 after buying an additional 50,110 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 15.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 119,538 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $10,281,000 after buying an additional 15,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc is a publicly traded higher education services holding company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Through its primary operating subsidiaries, Strayer University and Capella University, the company delivers degree programs and professional development opportunities to working adults. Its offerings span undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, continuing education, and workforce training in fields such as business, technology, health services, education, and public administration.

Strayer University, with a network of physical campuses across the United States complemented by an online platform, provides associate’s through doctoral degrees designed to accommodate non-traditional students.