Laureate Education $LAUR Position Boosted by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,400,917 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,516 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $32,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 22.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,968,000 after purchasing an additional 388,143 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Laureate Education in the first quarter worth about $36,637,000. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 5.2% in the first quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,489,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,455,000 after purchasing an additional 74,060 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Laureate Education by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 935,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,126,000 after buying an additional 282,901 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on LAUR shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. UBS Group lifted their price target 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, Zacks Research downgraded Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.67.

Laureate Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR opened at $30.44 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Laureate Education has a 52-week low of $17.82 and a 52-week high of $32.42.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 EPS 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 company had revenue of $400.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laureate Education declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.