Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 470,279 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 108% from the previous session’s volume of 226,288 shares.The stock last traded at $161.3250 and had previously closed at $178.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LOPE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered Grand Canyon Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Grand Canyon Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Grand Canyon Education currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.67.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $208.43 and a 200-day moving average of $193.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.74.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.78. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 31.50% and a net margin of 22.15%.The business had revenue of $261.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $259.97 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. Grand Canyon Education’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Grand Canyon Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.020-9.13 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.130-3.240 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Grand Canyon Education

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.9% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 982,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,730,000 after buying an additional 36,546 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 597,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,940,000 after buying an additional 20,485 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 57.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 560,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,853,000 after buying an additional 204,582 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.0% in the third quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 523,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,876,000 after purchasing an additional 15,235 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 12.9% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 407,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,976,000 after purchasing an additional 46,457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Grand Canyon Education Company Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.