Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Stock Price Down 7% on Analyst Downgrade

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) shares traded down 7% on Thursday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $29.77 and last traded at $29.3640. 80,093 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 1,547,633 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.59.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $40.00 to $41.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $32.00 to $36.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Laureate Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Laureate Education has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Laureate Education News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Laureate Education this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat consensus — revenue of $272.6M (up 15.4% YoY) and an adjusted EPS loss that was better than expected; management highlighted enrollment strength as a driver. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company raised full?year adjusted EPS guidance to $2.00–$2.08 and outlined FY revenue of about $1.890B–$1.905B — a formal upward revision that supports a higher valuation multiple. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Management specifically cited strong Q1 enrollment gains as the reason for lifting the outlook, indicating demand momentum that can translate to sustained revenue growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings package (transcript and slide deck) is available for investors to review execution details and unit-level trends; useful for assessing whether growth is durable. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded LAUR from “strong?buy” to “hold,” which can pressure sentiment and short?term flows even though the company beat revenue estimates. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Parts of the guidance appear conservative versus some analyst estimates (FY EPS guidance ~2.00–2.08 vs. some street forecasts ~2.13–2.16; Q2 revenue guidance also below consensus), which may cap upside and invites scrutiny on margin or timing assumptions. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in shares of Laureate Education by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 244,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after acquiring an additional 33,164 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at $1,006,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at $1,070,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at $407,000. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of Laureate Education by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 30,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Laureate Education Stock Up 3.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.37 and its 200-day moving average is $32.77. The company has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.41.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.07. Laureate Education had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $272.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. Laureate Education’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Laureate Education has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.000-2.080 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laureate Education Company Profile

Laureate Education, Inc (NASDAQ: LAUR) is a leading global network of higher education institutions dedicated to providing undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to a diverse student body. The company designs and delivers academic offerings through a combination of campus-based and online platforms, focusing on fields such as business, health sciences, engineering, education and hospitality management. By aligning its curriculum with regional workforce needs, Laureate aims to equip students with practical skills and industry insights that support career advancement and lifelong learning.

Through its network, Laureate operates a broad portfolio of universities and colleges, including both longstanding campus institutions and digitally native programs.