Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $30.44, but opened at $26.41. Laureate Education shares last traded at $29.6740, with a volume of 632,945 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Laureate Education currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Laureate Education Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.85 and a 200-day moving average of $25.76. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.10). Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.The business had revenue of $400.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.77 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Laureate Education announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Laureate Education

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Laureate Education by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,139,000 after purchasing an additional 30,808 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,272,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,506,000 after buying an additional 105,712 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,503,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,669,000 after buying an additional 458,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,968,000 after buying an additional 388,143 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.