Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Issues Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) issued an update on its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 3.570-3.850 for the period. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Grand Canyon Education also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 9.550-10.160 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LOPE. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Grand Canyon Education from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Grand Canyon Education presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Trading Down 7.9%

Shares of LOPE stock opened at $154.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. Grand Canyon Education has a 1 year low of $149.37 and a 1 year high of $223.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.49.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $308.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $307.92 million. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 19.54%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education will post 8.81 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Grand Canyon Education

Here are the key news stories impacting Grand Canyon Education this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barrington Research reaffirmed an “Outperform” rating and put a $230 price target on LOPE, implying significant upside from current levels. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings call highlighted continued enrollment growth and operational progress, which supports longer‑term revenue/earnings sustainability. Earnings Call Highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying in recent quarters (e.g., FMR and BMO added sizeable positions) signals conviction from some big investors. Quiver Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data in the feed appears erroneous (reports show zero shares / NaN changes), so there’s no clear short‑pressure signal from that dataset today.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple transcripts and media summaries of the Q4 call and release are circulating (Seeking Alpha, Yahoo, MarketBeat), useful for detail but largely reiterate the same mixed-message results. Earnings Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Management issued FY2026 and quarterly EPS guidance that is below consensus: FY2026 EPS $9.55–$10.16 (consensus ~10.00), Q1 2026 EPS $2.70–$2.73 vs. consensus ~3.19, and Q2 2026 EPS $1.56–$1.68 vs. consensus ~2.75 — these downgrades are the primary driver of today’s sell‑off. Press Release
• Negative Sentiment: Reported Q4 results were mixed: revenue and EPS rose YoY but some third‑party summaries show slight misses vs. consensus (revenue ~$308M vs. some estimates near $314M; EPS roughly in line or a touch below different models), and cash & cash equivalents declined materially YoY — all of which weigh on near‑term sentiment. Quiver Coverage

Institutional Trading of Grand Canyon Education

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Grand Canyon Education by 50.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,091 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,481,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the 4th quarter worth $458,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 26,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,355,000 after buying an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.