4,946 Shares in Strategic Education Inc. $STRA Acquired by Virtus Advisers LLC

Key Points

• Virtus Advisers LLC has acquired 4,946 shares of Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA), valued at approximately $415,000, during the first quarter.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.52, beating expectations, despite slightly missing revenue estimates at $321.47 million.
• Strategic Education announced a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.9% on September 15th.

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,946 shares of the health services provider's stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 2.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 127,684 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $10,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,256 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 6.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 423,549 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $35,561,000 after purchasing an additional 26,284 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education in the first quarter worth about $727,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education in the fourth quarter worth about $821,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 105,000.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,153 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150 shares during the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Strategic Education

In other news, Director G Thomas Waite III sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.69, for a total value of $57,183.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,300,994.94. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on STRA. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Strategic Education from $98.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Strategic Education from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Strategic Education presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.33.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of STRA traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $81.35. The company had a trading volume of 130,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 147,951. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $80.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.77. Strategic Education Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.25 and a 52 week high of $104.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Strategic Education's payout ratio is currently 49.90%.

Strategic Education Profile

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.