Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Short Interest Update

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 356,400 shares, a drop of 31.4% from the April 30th total of 519,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 225,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LOPE. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $208.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barrington Research increased their price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

Institutional Trading of Grand Canyon Education

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 0.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 18,977 shares of the company's stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 539 shares of the company's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,126 shares of the company's stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,163 shares of the company's stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 5,215 shares of the company's stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the period. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Grand Canyon Education Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:LOPE traded down $3.41 on Tuesday, reaching $197.35. 183,144 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 179,762. The company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.80. Grand Canyon Education has a 12 month low of $130.69 and a 12 month high of $202.28. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $182.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.82.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $289.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.18 million. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 30.67%. Grand Canyon Education's revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Grand Canyon Education will post 8.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.