Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 763 Shares of Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,259 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $36,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Laureate Education by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,231,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,350,000 after acquiring an additional 136,865 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Laureate Education by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 6,951,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,860,000 after acquiring an additional 151,397 shares during the last quarter. Engine Capital Management LP increased its stake in Laureate Education by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engine Capital Management LP now owns 2,927,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,737,000 after acquiring an additional 104,232 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Laureate Education by 225.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,513,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its stake in Laureate Education by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 2,170,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,431,000 after acquiring an additional 48,635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LAUR. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Laureate Education from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut Laureate Education from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $17.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of Laureate Education stock opened at $18.49 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.47. Laureate Education, Inc. has a one year low of $12.45 and a one year high of $19.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.82.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.40. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 27.13% and a net margin of 15.76%. The company had revenue of $368.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. Laureate Education’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Laureate Education, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Laureate Education Profile

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.