William Blair Investment Management LLC Invests $148.67 Million in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. $LOPE

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,038,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,667,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LOPE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the 2nd quarter valued at $397,654,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 6,102.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 480,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,905,000 after purchasing an additional 472,714 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the fourth quarter valued at about $61,919,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 135.3% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 518,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,303,000 after buying an additional 298,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education in the second quarter valued at about $23,677,000. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LOPE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial set a $100.00 target price on Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Grand Canyon Education from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Barrington Research set a $200.00 target price on Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $198.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.67.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of LOPE opened at $147.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.57. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.27 and a 12 month high of $223.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $146.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.08.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.14. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 36.62% and a net margin of 19.63%.The company had revenue of $264.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $261.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Grand Canyon Education Company Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.