Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) Trading Down 4.8% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Phoenix Education Partners shares fell 4.8% to about $28.56 in Friday trading, while volume was 77% below the stock’s average.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: four analysts rate the stock a Buy, two rate it Hold and one rates it Sell. The overall consensus is Hold, with an average price target of $41.60.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.43 in EPS versus a $1.28 estimate, and recently declared a $0.21 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 2.9% yield.

Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. (NYSE:PXED - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 4.8% on Friday . The company traded as low as $28.52 and last traded at $28.5550. 24,137 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 104,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PXED has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Phoenix Education Partners from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research cut Phoenix Education Partners from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Phoenix Education Partners presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.60.

Phoenix Education Partners Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $30.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.80. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Phoenix Education Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Phoenix Education Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PXED. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Phoenix Education Partners by 758.2% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,300 shares of the company's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 2,032 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Phoenix Education Partners by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 743,112 shares of the company's stock worth $24,411,000 after purchasing an additional 241,997 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners during the second quarter valued at about $1,085,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the second quarter worth about $486,000.

About Phoenix Education Partners

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source