Laureate Education $LAUR Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has increased its stake in Laureate Education by 22.0%, owning approximately $44 million worth of shares following the purchase of over 388,000 additional shares in the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded their outlook on Laureate Education, with BMO Capital Markets raising the price target to $24.00 and Wall Street Zen changing its rating to "strong-buy".
• Laureate Education reported a better-than-expected earnings result, with an EPS of $0.79, exceeding analyst estimates, and a year-over-year revenue growth of 5.0%.

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Free Report) by 22.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,150,013 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 388,143 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.43% of Laureate Education worth $43,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Laureate Education by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Laureate Education by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,090,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,683,000 after purchasing an additional 87,267 shares in the last quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Laureate Education by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,816,234 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,142,000 after purchasing an additional 112,492 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Laureate Education by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,663,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,424,000 after purchasing an additional 263,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Laureate Education by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,317,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,098,000 after purchasing an additional 58,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Laureate Education from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Laureate Education from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Laureate Education Stock Performance

LAUR traded up $0.3450 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.4050. 366,713 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 865,871. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.54. Laureate Education has a 1-year low of $14.45 and a 1-year high of $26.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $524.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $502.00 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 29.46% and a net margin of 16.41%.The firm's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laureate Education Profile

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.