Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Given Outperform Rating at Barrington Research

Barrington Research restated their outperform rating on shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $135.00 target price on the health services provider's stock.

STRA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Strategic Education from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $126.00.

Strategic Education Price Performance

NASDAQ STRA traded up $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $97.52. The company had a trading volume of 34,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,628. The firm's 50 day moving average is $96.24 and its 200 day moving average is $96.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.58. Strategic Education has a fifty-two week low of $85.11 and a fifty-two week high of $123.62.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The health services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $305.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.62 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.61%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Strategic Education will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Strategic Education's payout ratio is 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STRA. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 19.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 43,755 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $4,050,000 after acquiring an additional 7,203 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Strategic Education by 76.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 399,144 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $36,941,000 after purchasing an additional 173,225 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Strategic Education by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,628 shares of the health services provider's stock valued at $11,164,000 after acquiring an additional 12,437 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Strategic Education in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $702,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 7.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 313,727 shares of the health services provider's stock worth $29,035,000 after acquiring an additional 20,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company's stock.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.