Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys Shares of 715,531 Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. $PXED

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake of 715,531 shares of Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED), valued at about $21.68 million and representing a 2.00% ownership.
• Analysts are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $44, while individual reports range from sell to buy.
• Phoenix Education beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.58 vs. $0.34) and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 (ex-dividend Apr 29), implying a 3.0% yield.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. (NYSE:PXED - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 715,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,681,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 2.00% of Phoenix Education Partners as of its most recent SEC filing.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on PXED shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Phoenix Education Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Weiss Ratings started coverage on Phoenix Education Partners in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a "sell (d+)" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Phoenix Education Partners from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research lowered Phoenix Education Partners from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.00.

Phoenix Education Partners Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:PXED opened at $28.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion and a P/E ratio of 9.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.52 and a 52 week high of $47.08.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 7th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $222.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.71 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Phoenix Education Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Phoenix Education Partners's payout ratio is 28.00%.

Phoenix Education Partners Company Profile

Our Mission To provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities. We are a mission-driven organization operating at the forefront of the rapidly evolving post-secondary education market. As one of the largest online education providers and a pioneer in our field, we benefit from the dynamic interplay between technological innovation, education, employment and economic trends.

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