Strategic Education’s (STRA) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Barrington Research

Barrington Research reissued their outperform rating on shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $105.00 price target on the health services provider’s stock.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.33.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of Strategic Education stock opened at $84.31 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.55. Strategic Education has a fifty-two week low of $72.25 and a fifty-two week high of $104.51. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.57.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The health services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $319.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.40 million. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 9.08%.Strategic Education’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.90%.

Institutional Trading of Strategic Education

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. increased its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 155.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 234,719 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $20,188,000 after acquiring an additional 142,915 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 56.8% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 262,035 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $22,307,000 after purchasing an additional 94,955 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 3.3% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,524,317 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $129,765,000 after purchasing an additional 48,486 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Strategic Education by 1,939.3% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 114,954 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $9,786,000 after purchasing an additional 109,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Strategic Education by 1.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 263,217 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $22,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,116 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc is a publicly traded higher education services holding company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Through its primary operating subsidiaries, Strayer University and Capella University, the company delivers degree programs and professional development opportunities to working adults. Its offerings span undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, continuing education, and workforce training in fields such as business, technology, health services, education, and public administration.

Strayer University, with a network of physical campuses across the United States complemented by an online platform, provides associate’s through doctoral degrees designed to accommodate non-traditional students.