Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 32,140 Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU - Free Report) by 85.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,873 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 32,140 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group were worth $4,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Aspex Management HK Ltd boosted its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 7,454,906 shares of the company's stock worth $478,456,000 after buying an additional 2,701,566 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,539,678 shares of the company's stock worth $291,357,000 after buying an additional 1,437,656 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 61.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,894,541 shares of the company's stock worth $249,952,000 after buying an additional 1,480,391 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,019,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $193,815,000 after acquiring an additional 442,656 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 175.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,276,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449,979 shares during the period.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of EDU traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.01. 106,747 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,772,251. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.66 and a twelve month high of $87.26. The company has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 0.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $47.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.00.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.06). New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 8.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on EDU shares. Morgan Stanley cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the company from $83.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on New Oriental Education & Technology Group from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Macquarie cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. China Renaissance cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $83.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New Oriental Education & Technology Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.80.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Profile

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of private educational services. It operates through the following segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses, Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, Overseas Study Consulting Services, and Educational Materials and Distribution.