Zacks Research Upgrades Stride (NYSE:LRN) to Strong-Buy

Stride (NYSE:LRN) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on LRN. Weiss Ratings raised Stride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Stride from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. William Blair cut Stride from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barrington Research dropped their target price on Stride from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stride presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.25.

Stride Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE LRN opened at $80.53 on Wednesday. Stride has a twelve month low of $60.61 and a twelve month high of $103.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $81.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.70.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $639.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $612.25 million. Stride had a return on equity of 22.06% and a net margin of 13.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Stride will post 9.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stride

In other news, Director Dylan Haggart acquired 95,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $78.44 per share, for a total transaction of $7,452,427.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 1,898,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,950,578.84. The trade was a 5.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired 154,988 shares of company stock valued at $12,240,185 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stride

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stride in the second quarter worth about $199,715,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Stride by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,277,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,799,000 after acquiring an additional 862,849 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Stride by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,750,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,339,000 after acquiring an additional 90,851 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stride by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,034,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,172,000 after acquiring an additional 299,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Stride in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $71,036,000. Institutional investors own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

About Stride

Stride, Inc is an education technology company that provides online and blended learning programs for K-12 students. The company partners with public school districts, charter schools and other education organizations to deliver digital curricula, instructional software, teaching support and student services. Its offerings are designed to support full-time virtual schools, supplemental courses and traditional schools incorporating online learning.

Stride also provides career-focused education through programs that combine academic instruction with career exploration, technical training and industry-aligned learning opportunities.