Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Sets New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Laureate Education's stock has reached a new 52-week high at $26.65, showing a significant trading volume of 932,344 shares.
• Analysts have upgraded their ratings for Laureate Education, with BMO Capital Markets raising the price target from $23.00 to $24.00 and Wall Street Zen giving a "strong-buy" rating.
• The company's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.79, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $524.20 million, marking a year-over-year increase of 5%.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $26.65 and last traded at $26.57, with a volume of 932344 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Laureate Education from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Laureate Education Trading Up 0.4%

The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $23.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 0.54.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.06. The company 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 for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laureate Education

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company's stock worth $267,081,000 after acquiring an additional 387,567 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,090,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,683,000 after purchasing an additional 87,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,139,000 after purchasing an additional 30,808 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,272,264 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,506,000 after purchasing an additional 105,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Laureate Education by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,503,885 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,669,000 after purchasing an additional 458,202 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Laureate Education

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.