TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) Stock Moved Up to Buy by Wall Street Zen

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

TAL has been the subject of a number of other reports. New Street Research set a $13.60 target price on TAL Education Group in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of TAL Education Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised TAL Education Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of TAL Education Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TAL Education Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.80.

TAL Education Group Stock Down 4.7%

NYSE TAL opened at $11.96 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.07. The company has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.09. TAL Education Group has a 52 week low of $8.88 and a 52 week high of $13.37.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.46. TAL Education Group had a return on equity of 24.55% and a net margin of 28.43%. The company had revenue of $758.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.40 million. Research analysts anticipate that TAL Education Group will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Alex Peng sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.28, for a total value of $368,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,968.32. This represents a 66.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TAL Education Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of TAL Education Group by 315.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 701,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,977,000 after purchasing an additional 532,694 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in TAL Education Group by 53.9% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 304,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,463,000 after acquiring an additional 106,684 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of TAL Education Group by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,395,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,549 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in TAL Education Group by 97.6% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 348,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,967,000 after buying an additional 172,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.79% of the company’s stock.

About TAL Education Group

TAL Education Group is a Chinese education and learning services company that provides programs, products and services designed to support students and families. The company serves primarily school-age learners and has historically operated through a combination of physical learning centers, online platforms and technology-enabled educational offerings.

Founded in 2003 as Xueersi, TAL became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. Its business has included academic and enrichment programs, educational content, learning applications, tutoring services and related technology products.