Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" in a recent research note.
• BMO Capital Markets raised its target price for Laureate Education from $23.00 to $24.00 and rated it as "outperform."
• Laureate Education reported earnings of $0.79 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.73.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of LAUR traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 887,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 864,584. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Laureate Education has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week high of $24.57.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $524.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Laureate Education

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education in the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education in the first quarter valued at approximately $93,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 260.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 3,540 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education in the first quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 1,875.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 6,019 shares during the period. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.