Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Strategic Education from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $132.25.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STRA opened at $91.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.79. Strategic Education has a twelve month low of $74.43 and a twelve month high of $123.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.16 million. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 9.84%. Strategic Education’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Strategic Education will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Strategic Education news, Director Viet D. Dinh purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $95.59 per share, for a total transaction of $477,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,711.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STRA. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Strategic Education by 46.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 395 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 2.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 6,199 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 1.3% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 12,984 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Strategic Education by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,160 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in Strategic Education by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,000 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

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.