New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $127.00. The stock had previously closed at $79.64, but opened at $84.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. New Oriental Education & Technology Group shares last traded at $82.57, with a volume of 932,222 shares.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EDU. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on New Oriental Education & Technology Group from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Institutional Trading of New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,631,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,274,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,254 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 4,094,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,730,000 after purchasing an additional 760,062 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,374,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,997,000 after purchasing an additional 646,122 shares in the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,899,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,194,000 after purchasing an additional 623,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 141.4% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,608,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,892,000 after purchasing an additional 942,392 shares in the last quarter.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.76 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.12 and a 200-day moving average of $78.98.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $869.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.01 million. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a net margin of 7.72% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 36.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

About New Oriental Education & Technology Group

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc provides private educational services under the New Oriental brand in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through four segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses; Online Education and Other Services; Overseas Study Consulting Services; and Educational Materials and Distribution.