Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. (NYSE:PXED) Short Interest Up 65.4% in July

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 65.4% to 532,073 shares as of July 15, representing 1.6% of Phoenix Education Partners’ outstanding shares and 3.8 days to cover.
• Analysts maintain a generally favorable outlook, with four Buy ratings and three Holds, a “Moderate Buy” consensus, and an average price target of $41.60. PXED recently traded at $28.72, down 3.1%.
• The company beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $1.43 in EPS versus the $1.28 consensus on $271.8 million in revenue, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, yielding about 2.9% annually.

Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. (NYSE:PXED - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 532,073 shares, a growth of 65.4% from the June 30th total of 321,673 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 139,433 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on PXED shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Phoenix Education Partners in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. B. Riley Financial cut their price target on shares of Phoenix Education Partners from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.60.

Phoenix Education Partners Stock Down 3.1%

NYSE PXED traded down $0.91 on Friday, reaching $28.72. The stock had a trading volume of 153,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 105,149. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Phoenix Education Partners has a 1 year low of $23.52 and a 1 year high of $47.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $271.80 million during the quarter. Phoenix Education Partners had a return on equity of 60.06% and a net margin of 8.18%. On average, analysts forecast that Phoenix Education Partners will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phoenix Education Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 29th. Phoenix Education Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.07%.

Institutional Trading of Phoenix Education Partners

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PXED. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the 4th quarter valued at $21,681,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $2,618,000. Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners in the fourth quarter worth $303,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Phoenix Education Partners during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Phoenix Education Partners during the fourth quarter worth $44,774,000.

Phoenix Education Partners Company Profile

Our Mission To provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities. We are a mission-driven organization operating at the forefront of the rapidly evolving post-secondary education market. As one of the largest online education providers and a pioneer in our field, we benefit from the dynamic interplay between technological innovation, education, employment and economic trends.

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