Wall Street Zen Downgrades Stride (NYSE:LRN) to Hold

Stride (NYSE:LRN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

LRN has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Stride in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Stride from $148.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Stride in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.40.

Stride Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LRN opened at $143.66 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 5.27 and a current ratio of 5.39. Stride has a one year low of $63.25 and a one year high of $171.17. The firm has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.07.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $653.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $626.23 million. Stride had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 11.97%.Stride’s revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Stride will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Stride

In other Stride news, CEO James Jeaho Rhyu sold 13,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $2,270,896.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 706,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,895,378.98. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LRN. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stride by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stride during the second quarter worth about $212,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Stride by 38.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 21,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,004,000 after purchasing an additional 5,850 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Stride by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 32,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,669,000 after acquiring an additional 9,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Stride by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,582,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. 98.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Stride

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, engages in the provision of proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services in the United States and internationally. Its technology-based products and services enable clients to attract, enroll, educate, track progress, support, and facilitate individualized learning for students.