Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Stride, Inc. $LRN

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 427,783 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 122,430 shares during the period. Stride accounts for about 1.5% of Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 1.00% of Stride worth $27,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LRN. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Stride by 67.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 28,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 11,481 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Stride by 80.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 2,291 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Stride by 12.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Stride by 31.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 134,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,009,000 after purchasing an additional 32,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stride by 62.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRN has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Stride in a research note on Monday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Stride in a research note on Monday. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Stride in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Stride in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.75.

Stride Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LRN opened at $83.70 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.36 and a 200 day moving average of $82.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.10. Stride, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.61 and a 12 month high of $171.17. The company has a current ratio of 6.21, a quick ratio of 6.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $629.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $629.69 million. Stride had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 25.20%. Stride’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stride, Inc. will post 8.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stride Company Profile

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.