ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Laureate Education $LAUR

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,404 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,797 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAUR. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Laureate Education by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Laureate Education by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 6,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Laureate Education by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 53,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Laureate Education Price Performance

NASDAQ:LAUR opened at $30.27 on Wednesday. Laureate Education has a 52 week low of $17.82 and a 52 week high of $32.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.03. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09 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 (NASDAQ:LAUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $400.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.77 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Laureate Education announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAUR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research cut Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.67.

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.