American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.50.

Several analysts have issued reports on APEI shares. Zacks Research raised American Public Education from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of American Public Education from $38.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. William Blair set a $58.00 target price on shares of American Public Education in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Northland Securities set a $51.00 target price on American Public Education in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on American Public Education from $48.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th.

American Public Education Price Performance

American Public Education stock opened at $56.30 on Tuesday. American Public Education has a 1 year low of $25.31 and a 1 year high of $61.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 3.46.

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $158.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.61 million. American Public Education had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 11.30%. American Public Education has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.640 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that American Public Education will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Thomas Beckett sold 2,000 shares of American Public Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.70, for a total value of $115,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,172 shares in the company, valued at $3,587,324.40. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Karmela Gaffney sold 2,700 shares of American Public Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.87, for a total transaction of $150,849.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 40,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,264,243.49. This trade represents a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 377,071 shares of company stock worth $20,753,569 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,086,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,893,000 after buying an additional 17,902 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 962,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,398,000 after buying an additional 34,700 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 847,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,028,000 after buying an additional 15,277 shares during the last quarter. No Street GP LP purchased a new position in shares of American Public Education in the third quarter worth $32,365,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 8.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 612,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,159,000 after buying an additional 49,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.62% of the company’s stock.

American Public Education Company Profile

American Public Education, Inc operates as a provider of online postsecondary education, offering degree and certificate programs through its wholly owned subsidiary, American Public University System (APUS). The company designs and delivers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs in fields such as business administration, information technology, criminal justice, homeland security, health sciences, and education. Its curriculum is developed to meet the needs of working adults, military personnel, veterans and civilian students seeking flexible, career-relevant learning opportunities.

APUS is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and employs a proprietary online learning platform that supports asynchronous instruction, digital course materials and interactive learning tools.