Riverbridge Partners LLC Sells 99,959 Shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. $LOPE

Riverbridge Partners LLC reduced its stake in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 853,107 shares of the company’s stock after selling 99,959 shares during the period. Grand Canyon Education makes up about 2.7% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Grand Canyon Education were worth $141,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOPE. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.9% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 982,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36,546 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 597,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,940,000 after buying an additional 20,485 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 57.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 560,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,853,000 after buying an additional 204,582 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 523,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after buying an additional 15,235 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 405,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,017,000 after buying an additional 12,834 shares during the period. 94.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LOPE. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Trading Down 0.7%

Grand Canyon Education stock opened at $169.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $166.61 and a 200-day moving average of $178.56. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.37 and a 52 week high of $223.04.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $308.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $307.92 million. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 33.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grand Canyon Education Profile

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.