Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $408,000 in Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 22,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $408,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Laureate Education by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 76,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after purchasing an additional 13,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Laureate Education by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,181,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,892,000 after buying an additional 35,521 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in Laureate Education during the 4th quarter worth $666,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Laureate Education in the fourth quarter valued at $310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laureate Education news, Director Ian Kendell Snow sold 520,831 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.47, for a total transaction of $9,098,917.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Laureate Education from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR opened at $18.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.43. Laureate Education, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.26 and a twelve month high of $21.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $423.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $411.50 million. Laureate Education had a net margin of 18.92% and a return on equity of 32.35%. On average, research analysts forecast that Laureate Education, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

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.