Stride (NYSE:LRN) Stock: Insider Brian Shepherd Acquires 12,000 Shares

Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) Director Brian Shepherd acquired 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $76.69 per share, for a total transaction of $920,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,178.86. The trade was a 1,096.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Stride Price Performance

LRN opened at $74.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.88. Stride, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.61 and a 52-week high of $103.67.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $639.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $612.25 million. Stride had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 22.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Stride, Inc. will post 9.04 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Stride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Stride from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. William Blair downgraded shares of Stride from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stride from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Barrington Research cut their price objective on shares of Stride from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Stride has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stride

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LRN. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stride during the second quarter valued at $199,715,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Stride by 61.0% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,277,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,799,000 after acquiring an additional 862,849 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Stride during the 2nd quarter worth about $71,036,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Stride during the 2nd quarter worth about $63,624,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Stride during the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

Stride Company Profile

Stride, Inc is an education technology company that provides online and blended learning programs for K-12 students. The company partners with public school districts, charter schools and other education organizations to deliver digital curricula, instructional software, teaching support and student services. Its offerings are designed to support full-time virtual schools, supplemental courses and traditional schools incorporating online learning.

Stride also provides career-focused education through programs that combine academic instruction with career exploration, technical training and industry-aligned learning opportunities.