Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Barrington Research

Barrington Research reissued their outperform rating on shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $135.00 price target on the health services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on STRA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Strategic Education from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Strategic Education from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Strategic Education currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.00.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of STRA stock traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $99.91. 280,396 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 130,340. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Strategic Education has a fifty-two week low of $85.11 and a fifty-two week high of $123.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $90.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.07.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The health services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $305.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.62 million. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 9.84%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 49.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STRA. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Strategic Education by 2,650.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 330 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Strategic Education in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.