Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $87.00.

A number of research firms recently commented on STRA. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Strategic Education from $95.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research downgraded Strategic Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barrington Research decreased their price target on Strategic Education from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Strategic Education news, insider Christa Hokenson sold 2,000 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 65,195 shares in the company, valued at $5,215,600. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman Robert S. Silberman bought 718 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $80.82 per share, with a total value of $58,028.76. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman owned 319,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,851,893.40. This trade represents a 0.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,580 shares of company stock valued at $1,005,814. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STRA. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 62,355.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,467,702 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $117,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465,352 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,458,740 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $121,017,000 after acquiring an additional 7,346 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 881,089 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $70,663,000 after acquiring an additional 6,737 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 609,040 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $48,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 454,509 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $37,706,000 after acquiring an additional 106,487 shares during the period. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

NASDAQ:STRA opened at $81.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.51. Strategic Education has a one year low of $69.70 and a one year high of $91.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.42.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The health services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $305.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.81 million. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 7.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is presently 42.40%.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc is a publicly traded higher education services holding company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Through its primary operating subsidiaries, Strayer University and Capella University, the company delivers degree programs and professional development opportunities to working adults. Its offerings span undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, continuing education, and workforce training in fields such as business, technology, health services, education, and public administration.

Strayer University, with a network of physical campuses across the United States complemented by an online platform, provides associate’s through doctoral degrees designed to accommodate non-traditional students.