Laureate Education $LAUR Shares Purchased by Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Laureate Education by 5.2%, making it one of the largest positions in its portfolio, valued at approximately $30.5 million.
• Laureate Education reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.79, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.73, along with a 5.0% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Shares of Laureate Education were upgraded from "hold" to "strong-buy" by Wall Street Zen, now holding an average target price of $24.00 from analysts.

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,489,257 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 74,060 shares during the quarter. Laureate Education makes up approximately 2.0% of Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.99% of Laureate Education worth $30,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LAUR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Laureate Education by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company's stock worth $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Laureate Education by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,968,000 after purchasing an additional 388,143 shares in the last quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,816,234 shares of the company's stock worth $37,142,000 after buying an additional 112,492 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter worth $36,637,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,317,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,098,000 after buying an additional 58,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Laureate Education from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Laureate Education Stock Down 1.5%

LAUR stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.55. 983,258 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 779,031. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.34. Laureate Education has a 12 month low of $14.45 and a 12 month high of $28.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Laureate Education Company 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.