Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Sets New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Laureate Education's stock reached a new 52-week high of $29.74 during trading, with a last trading price of $29.61 and a trading volume of 984,425 shares.
• Wall Street analysts upgraded Laureate Education from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, with an average consensus price target of $24.00.
• The company reported $0.79 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.73, along with revenue of $524.20 million, indicating a year-over-year growth of 5%.

Shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $29.74 and last traded at $29.61, with a volume of 984425 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on LAUR. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Friday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Laureate Education from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $29.50.

Laureate Education Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $25.94 and its 200-day moving average is $22.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $524.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $502.00 million. Laureate Education had a net margin of 16.41% and a return on equity of 29.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laureate Education

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAUR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 3.1% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298,980 shares of the company's stock worth $77,139,000 after acquiring an additional 30,808 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 3.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,272,264 shares of the company's stock worth $76,506,000 after acquiring an additional 105,712 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 22.4% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,503,885 shares of the company's stock worth $58,669,000 after acquiring an additional 458,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 22.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company's stock worth $43,968,000 after acquiring an additional 388,143 shares in 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.