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 published on Saturday.

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

Laureate Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.26. 335,403 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 864,474. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company's 50 day moving average is $22.99 and its 200 day moving average is $21.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.54. Laureate Education has a one year low of $14.18 and a one year high of $24.57.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $524.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $502.00 million. Laureate Education had a net margin of 16.41% and a return on equity of 29.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education in the 1st quarter worth $62,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at about $93,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Laureate Education by 260.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the company's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Laureate Education in the 1st quarter worth approximately $102,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 1,875.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.27% of the company's stock.

Laureate Education Company Profile

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.