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

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

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Strategic Education

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STRA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Strategic Education by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 269,867 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $29,864,000 after acquiring an additional 8,432 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Strategic Education by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,238 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Strategic Education in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Strategic Education during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Strategic Education Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ STRA opened at $92.81 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.57. Strategic Education has a 52 week low of $85.11 and a 52 week high of $123.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.58.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last posted its 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. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.61% and a net margin of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $305.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Strategic Education’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Strategic Education will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Strategic Education Company Profile

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.