Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 2,804 Shares of Laureate Education $LAUR

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its holdings in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 198,953 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,804 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $4,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Laureate Education by 260.1% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Laureate Education by 11.8% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 6,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB grew its stake in Laureate Education by 54.8% during the second quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 6,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,443 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in Laureate Education in the 2nd quarter valued at $178,000. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in Laureate Education in the 2nd quarter worth $312,000. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LAUR. Zacks Research lowered Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Laureate Education Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of LAUR stock opened at $30.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 0.61. Laureate Education has a 1 year low of $17.82 and a 1 year high of $32.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $400.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.77 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.Laureate Education’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laureate Education declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Laureate Education Profile

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.