R Squared Ltd Invests $202,000 in Strategic Education Inc. $STRA

R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,369 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MSH Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,314 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Significant Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,876 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 148.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 331 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 14,541 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 12,243 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson acquired 1,900 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $81.50 per share, for a total transaction of $154,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 104,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,487,084. This trade represents a 1.86% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director G Thomas Waite III sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.69, for a total value of $57,183.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,300,994.94. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STRA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.33.

Strategic Education Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:STRA opened at $84.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.67. Strategic Education Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.25 and a 12-month high of $104.51.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $321.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.84 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Strategic Education Inc. will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is currently 49.90%.

Strategic Education Profile

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.