Stride (NYSE:LRN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $83.39, but opened at $86.80. Stride shares last traded at $86.3050, with a volume of 55,038 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on LRN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Stride in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Stride in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Stride in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stride in a report on Monday, June 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.75.

Stride Stock Down 0.5%

The company has a current ratio of 6.21, a quick ratio of 6.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.03.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $629.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $629.69 million. Stride had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 25.20%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Stride, Inc. will post 8.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Stride

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LRN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Stride by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,883,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,090,000 after buying an additional 340,838 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Stride by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 40,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,622,000 after acquiring an additional 10,541 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its holdings in shares of Stride by 59.3% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 369,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,019,000 after acquiring an additional 137,775 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Stride in the 4th quarter worth about $988,000. Finally, Maxi Investments CY Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Stride during the 4th quarter worth about $1,000,000. 98.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Stride

Stride, Inc (NYSE:LRN) is a technology-driven education company that designs and delivers online learning solutions for students and adult learners. Through long-term partnerships with state-authorized public school districts, Stride operates virtual academies that serve K-12 students across the United States. The company’s blended-learning model combines digital curriculum, live teaching support and data analytics to personalize instruction and monitor student progress.

In addition to its K-12 offerings, Stride provides a portfolio of career and workforce readiness programs under its Stride Career Prep division.