Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Buys Shares of 3,549 Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,549 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Strategic Education in the second quarter worth $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Strategic Education during the second quarter worth about $36,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 2,650.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 330 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Strategic Education in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.25.

Insider Transactions at Strategic Education

In other Strategic Education news, Director Viet D. Dinh purchased 5,000 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $95.59 per share, for a total transaction of $477,950.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 20,020 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,711.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of Strategic Education stock opened at $92.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Strategic Education, Inc. has a one year low of $74.43 and a one year high of $123.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.56.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The health services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $312.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.16 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Strategic Education, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.87%.

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.