Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on STRA. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Strategic Education from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Strategic Education stock opened at $99.35 on Tuesday. Strategic Education has a 1 year low of $85.11 and a 1 year high of $123.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $91.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.82. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.57.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The health services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $305.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $301.62 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.61%. Strategic Education’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Strategic Education will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Strategic Education by 2,650.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 330 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Strategic Education during the second quarter worth approximately $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.