Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Receives $126.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the four research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.00.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STRA. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Strategic Education from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STRA opened at $92.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.59. Strategic Education has a 52 week low of $85.11 and a 52 week high of $123.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.41.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The health services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.35. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.61% and a net margin of 10.44%. The company had revenue of $305.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Strategic Education will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Strategic Education by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 399,144 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $36,941,000 after purchasing an additional 173,225 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Strategic Education by 11.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,628 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $11,164,000 after buying an additional 12,437 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Strategic Education by 4.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,907 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Strategic Education during the 3rd quarter worth $206,000. 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.