New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Downgraded by HSBC to Hold

Key Points

• New Oriental Education & Technology Group's stock rating has been downgraded from "buy" to "hold" by HSBC analysts, reflecting a cautious outlook.
• Despite the downgrade, the company was recently upgraded by JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, indicating mixed sentiment among analysts regarding its future performance.
• The stock traded down 5.1% in midday trading, reaching $44.38, while the company posted an earnings per share of $0.61, exceeding analyst expectations.

HSBC lowered shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

EDU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $77.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.00.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Trading Up 1.2%

EDU traded up $0.52 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.63. 1,670,962 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,761,518. The company has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84 and a beta of 0.25. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $48.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.58. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a 1 year low of $40.66 and a 1 year high of $87.26.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.37. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. New Oriental Education & Technology Group's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that New Oriental Education & Technology Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Oriental Education & Technology Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EDU. Aspex Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 56.8% in the fourth quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 7,454,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $478,456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,701,566 shares during the period. First Beijing Investment Ltd increased its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 1,997.8% in the first quarter. First Beijing Investment Ltd now owns 5,456,378 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,869,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,281 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,539,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $291,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,656 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,894,541 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 175.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,276,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449,979 shares during the last quarter.

About New Oriental Education & Technology Group

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.