Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 28,351 Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 28,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Laureate Education during the first quarter valued at about $93,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 260.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Laureate Education in the first quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Laureate Education by 1,875.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019 shares during the period. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Laureate Education stock opened at $22.91 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.02. Laureate Education has a 52 week low of $13.60 and a 52 week high of $24.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $524.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $502.00 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 16.41%. Laureate Education’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LAUR. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Laureate Education from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Laureate Education Profile

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.