William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 334,486 Shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. $LOPE

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) by 281.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 453,140 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 334,486 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Grand Canyon Education were worth $75,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 7.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,233,000 after purchasing an additional 7,167 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 3.0% during the third quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 523,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after purchasing an additional 15,235 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 252.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 11,538 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 3.3% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 405,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,017,000 after purchasing an additional 12,834 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 180.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 175,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,628,000 after purchasing an additional 113,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LOPE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Performance

Shares of LOPE stock opened at $156.70 on Monday. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.37 and a 12 month high of $223.04. The stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.04.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.08. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 34.72%. The business had revenue of $308.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $307.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Grand Canyon Education Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher?education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non?traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.