Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Reaches New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $149.37 and last traded at $154.60, with a volume of 999537 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $167.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOPE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Grand Canyon Education from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $169.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.51. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.02. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 33.28% and a net margin of 19.54%.The company had revenue of $308.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $307.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Grand Canyon Education’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grand Canyon Education

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LOPE. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the fourth quarter worth $174,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,091 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in Grand Canyon Education by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,481,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the 4th quarter valued at about $458,000. 94.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.