Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Hits New 52-Week High Following Strong Earnings

Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $20.75 and last traded at $21.02, with a volume of 196330 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.12.

The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.20. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 27.13% and a net margin of 15.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Laureate Education from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Laureate Education

In other news, Director Corro Pedro Del sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.58, for a total value of $489,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,686 shares in the company, valued at $581,251.88. This trade represents a 45.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAUR. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 51.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 3,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 62.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in Laureate Education during the third quarter worth about $95,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 6,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Laureate Education Trading Up 4.2 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.84.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.