Laureate Education $LAUR Holdings Lessened by Van Berkom & Associates Inc.

Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,440,527 shares of the company’s stock after selling 286,645 shares during the quarter. Laureate Education comprises approximately 3.3% of Van Berkom & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. owned about 1.77% of Laureate Education worth $93,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LAUR. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 34.5% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,842,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,629,000 after buying an additional 984,671 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 736.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 726,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,316,000 after buying an additional 639,726 shares during the last quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the second quarter valued at about $19,142,456. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Laureate Education by 39.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,155,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,243,000 after acquiring an additional 328,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Laureate Education by 26.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 751,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,179,000 after acquiring an additional 155,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laureate Education news, Director Ian Snow sold 427,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.26, for a total value of $15,483,708.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,646,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,695,708.24. This represents a 20.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 521,229 shares of company stock worth $19,103,350 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LAUR shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Laureate Education from $34.50 to $36.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Laureate Education from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Barrington Research started coverage on Laureate Education in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Laureate Education from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.90.

Laureate Education Price Performance

LAUR opened at $34.56 on Tuesday. Laureate Education has a 1 year low of $24.98 and a 1 year high of $40.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.57.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Laureate Education had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $485.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laureate Education Company Profile

Laureate Education, Inc operates a network of private higher education institutions in Mexico and Peru. Its principal institutions are Universidad del Valle de México (UVM) and Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC).

The company offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as other academic and professional education, across fields that include business, health sciences, engineering and technology. Its institutions serve students through campus-based and digital learning options.

Laureate traces its origins to Sylvan Learning Systems, founded in 1989, and later expanded internationally under the Laureate International Universities name.