Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

STRA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barrington Research lowered their target price on shares of Strategic Education from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Strategic Education from $114.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

STRA opened at $83.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.63 and a 200-day moving average of $94.46. Strategic Education has a 52-week low of $78.43 and a 52-week high of $123.62.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The health services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.10). Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.61% and a net margin of 10.44%. The company had revenue of $311.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.18 million. On average, research analysts predict that Strategic Education will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Strategic Education

In other news, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 31,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total transaction of $3,116,374.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 140,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,723,690.23. The trade was a 18.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 6,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total value of $589,425.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,998,189.48. This trade represents a 6.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STRA. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,830 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Strategic Education by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,938 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Strategic Education by 5.3% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 7,086 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Strategic Education by 11.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,628 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $11,164,000 after acquiring an additional 12,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 22.5% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 20,353 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,884,000 after acquiring an additional 3,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.