Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 231,543 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,838 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.79% of Grand Canyon Education worth $37,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 716,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,197,000 after purchasing an additional 12,509 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 285,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,882,000 after buying an additional 82,855 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance raised its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 2,428 shares of the company's stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 51.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,473 shares of the company's stock worth $766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 1.3% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 850,343 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,971,000 after acquiring an additional 11,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Grand Canyon Education

In other news, CTO Dilek Marsh sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.07, for a total transaction of $249,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 21,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,366.18. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Grand Canyon Education from $170.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Grand Canyon Education from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on Grand Canyon Education from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $152.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Grand Canyon Education Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ LOPE traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $169.99. 173,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 129,003. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.42. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.75. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.48 and a 1 year high of $176.77.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.01. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 31.01% and a net margin of 22.09%. The company had revenue of $238.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.69 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Grand Canyon Education Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.