Royce & Associates LP Acquires New Holdings in Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP has made a new investment worth approximately $549,000 in Strategic Education Inc. by acquiring 6,536 shares during the first quarter.
• Strategic Education recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, with an annualized payout of $2.40 and a dividend yield of 3.02%.
• Analysts have shown positive sentiment towards Strategic Education, with multiple firms raising their price targets and upgrading their ratings, including BMO Capital Markets lifting their target to $98.00.

Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,536 shares of the health services provider's stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Strategic Education in the 4th quarter valued at $15,715,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 207.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 175,141 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $16,362,000 after buying an additional 118,151 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 202.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 114,765 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $10,720,000 after buying an additional 76,804 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 618,286 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $57,760,000 after buying an additional 70,743 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Strategic Education by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,793,685 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $260,986,000 after purchasing an additional 45,421 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on STRA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Strategic Education from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $98.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday.

Strategic Education Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of STRA traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.88. 225,967 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 193,692. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.55. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.58. Strategic Education Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.25 and a 1 year high of $104.51.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $321.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $322.84 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The firm's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Strategic Education Inc. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Strategic Education's payout ratio is presently 49.90%.

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.