Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Research Coverage Started at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on LAUR. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Laureate Education has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR opened at $32.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.21 and its 200-day moving average is $27.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Laureate Education has a 1-year low of $17.82 and a 1-year high of $33.03.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $400.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.77 million. Laureate Education had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 22.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laureate Education declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laureate Education

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Laureate Education by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 22.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,968,000 after buying an additional 388,143 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the first quarter worth $36,637,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the first quarter worth $9,976,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 106.9% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 96,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after acquiring an additional 49,872 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.