Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Issues Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) updated its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 3.650-3.930 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 3.770. The company issued revenue guidance of $329.0 million-$338.5 million. Grand Canyon Education also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 9.930-10.500 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LOPE. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Down 3.3%

LOPE traded down $5.66 on Friday, hitting $163.41. The company had a trading volume of 435,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 226,755. The company has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.62. Grand Canyon Education has a 12-month low of $149.37 and a 12-month high of $223.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.32.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $308.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $307.75 million. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 33.98% and a net margin of 19.54%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Grand Canyon Education will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Grand Canyon Education News

Here are the key news stories impacting Grand Canyon Education this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results showed revenue growth and strong profitability: revenue ~ $308.8M (up ~6.7% y/y), healthy margins and a solid ROE; several outlets report EPS roughly in line to above consensus (MarketBeat/Zacks). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management issued FY‑2026 and quarterly guidance that largely overlaps street expectations (Q2–Q4 and FY ranges), which many read as guidance in line with consensus rather than a clear beat. See the company release for the guidance ranges. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some data vendors/analysts interpreted the quarter as a modest miss on certain metrics (e.g., Quiver reported EPS and revenue slightly below its cited estimates), and the lower end of GCE’s FY/quarter ranges sits below consensus — a conservative tone that can trigger selling. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Balance‑sheet and ownership notes: Quiver flags lower cash vs prior year (~33% decline), rising liabilities, and a small insider sale plus active institutional rebalancing — items that can increase near‑term volatility. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 649,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,980,000 after buying an additional 153,189 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 483,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,358,000 after buying an additional 156,777 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 6,102.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 480,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,905,000 after buying an additional 472,714 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 339,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,930,000 after buying an additional 80,704 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 323,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,772,000 after buying an additional 17,375 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

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.