Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Price Target Raised to $20.00

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets' price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.34% from the company's current price.

Separately, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Laureate Education from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Laureate Education Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LAUR traded down $0.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.90. 591,529 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,416. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.24. Laureate Education has a 52-week low of $12.45 and a 52-week high of $18.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.82.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.40. Laureate Education had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 21.37%. The firm had revenue of $368.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $361.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Laureate Education will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laureate Education

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,523 shares of the company's stock worth $2,193,000 after acquiring an additional 65,507 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,231,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $207,350,000 after purchasing an additional 136,865 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 81.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 156,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 70,121 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter valued at $11,241,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Laureate Education by 56.7% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 330,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 119,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.27% of the company's stock.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.