Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Phoenix Education Partners from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Phoenix Education Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Barrington Research lowered shares of Phoenix Education Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners from $38.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

Phoenix Education Partners Stock Down 8.6%

Phoenix Education Partners stock opened at $19.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Phoenix Education Partners has a 1-year low of $19.55 and a 1-year high of $35.90. The company has a market cap of $720.98 million and a PE ratio of 8.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.70.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.07. Phoenix Education Partners had a return on equity of 55.76% and a net margin of 8.74%. The firm had revenue of $260.68 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Phoenix Education Partners will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phoenix Education Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. This is a boost from Phoenix Education Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Phoenix Education Partners’s payout ratio is currently 36.68%.

Insider Activity at Phoenix Education Partners

In other news, insider John Woods sold 19,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total value of $503,638.17. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 62,682 shares in the company, valued at $1,622,836.98. This represents a 23.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 20,703 shares of company stock valued at $534,904 in the last quarter. 5.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Phoenix Education Partners by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 743,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,411,000 after buying an additional 241,997 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the second quarter worth $12,620,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the second quarter worth $2,398,000. Bastion Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the first quarter worth $2,085,000. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the third quarter valued at $1,653,000.

About Phoenix Education Partners

Phoenix Education Partners, Inc is a higher education company focused on serving working adults and other nontraditional students. Through the University of Phoenix, its principal operating institution, the company provides career-oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional certificates, and other educational offerings.

The University of Phoenix primarily delivers instruction through online learning, with programs designed to offer flexible scheduling for students balancing education with employment and other responsibilities.