Brokerages Set Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) PT at $30.67

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.6667.

LAUR has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Laureate Education Price Performance

NASDAQ LAUR opened at $29.69 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.09. Laureate Education has a 1 year low of $17.82 and a 1 year high of $32.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Laureate Education announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laureate Education

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC grew its position in Laureate Education by 260.1% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 43.3% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 25,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 7,813 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 935,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,126,000 after acquiring an additional 282,901 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Laureate Education by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 367,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

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.