Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Downgraded by Barrington Research to “Hold”

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Barrington Research from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on STRA. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Strategic Education from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair cut Strategic Education to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Strategic Education from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Strategic Education from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, Strategic Education currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.00.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of STRA traded down $6.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.20. The stock had a trading volume of 716,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,420. Strategic Education has a 52-week low of $51.01 and a 52-week high of $89.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.93 and its 200 day moving average is $80.04.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The health services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.23). Strategic Education had a return on equity of 8.98% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $325.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.55 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. Strategic Education’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Strategic Education will post 7.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Strategic Education

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STRA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Strategic Education during the second quarter worth $291,189,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 valued at $121,017,000 after buying an additional 7,346 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 30.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 275,342 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $21,097,000 after acquiring an additional 57,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,778,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Strategic Education

Here are the key news stories impacting Strategic Education this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic Education declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, equivalent to $2.40 annually and a reported yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is November 30, and payment is scheduled for December 7.
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue rose 1.6% year over year to $325.1 million, supported by Education Technology Services and higher U.S. Higher Education revenue per student, but was slightly below analyst expectations. Strategic Education Q3 results
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted expectations were not met: Q3 EPS of $1.72 fell short of consensus estimates around $1.92–$1.95. Coverage also highlighted a $134 million Torrens writedown, a significant drag on the results and a likely source of investor concern. Strategic Education Q3 earnings and writedown
• Negative Sentiment: Barrington Research lowered its rating on STRA from “outperform” to “market perform,” signaling less optimism about the shares. Barrington Research ratings
• Negative Sentiment: Ademi LLP said it is investigating potential securities-fraud claims involving the company. This is an investigation announcement, not a finding of wrongdoing, but it adds a legal and reputational uncertainty for investors. Ademi LLP investigation announcement

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc (NASDAQ: STRA) is an education services company that provides postsecondary programs through Strayer University and Capella University. Its institutions serve working adults and other nontraditional students through online and campus-based learning options.

Strayer University offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional certificates and other career-focused educational programs in areas such as business, information technology, health services and criminal justice.