American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) Trading Down 5.3% – Here’s What Happened

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI)’s stock price dropped 5.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $54.90 and last traded at $54.61. Approximately 340,457 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 300,100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded American Public Education from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of American Public Education from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Public Education in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of American Public Education from $48.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on American Public Education from $38.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.50.

American Public Education Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a current ratio of 3.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.66. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.34, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.70.

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) last released 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. American Public Education had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 4.86%.The company had revenue of $158.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.61 million. American Public Education has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.640 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Public Education, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at American Public Education

In other news, insider Nuno S. Fernandes sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.87, for a total transaction of $350,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 84,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,507.25. The trade was a 7.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Tanya Joy Axenson sold 20,000 shares of American Public Education stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.68, for a total transaction of $1,113,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,917 shares in the company, valued at $2,779,378.56. This represents a 28.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 28,500 shares of company stock worth $1,579,155 over the last three months. 17.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Public Education

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. No Street GP LP bought a new stake in shares of American Public Education in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,365,000. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP bought a new stake in American Public Education during the 3rd quarter valued at $15,108,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of American Public Education by 1,667.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 180,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 170,604 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of American Public Education by 76.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 389,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,867,000 after acquiring an additional 168,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 122.9% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 294,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,619,000 after acquiring an additional 162,318 shares during the period. 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.