Laureate Education $LAUR Stock Sold by State of Wyoming

State of Wyoming lowered its stake in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 81.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,207 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,390 shares during the period. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LAUR. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,842,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,629,000 after buying an additional 984,671 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Laureate Education by 39.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,155,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,243,000 after buying an additional 328,609 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. increased its holdings in Laureate Education by 1.5% during the third quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 964,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,821,000 after buying an additional 14,717 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Laureate Education by 26.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 751,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,179,000 after buying an additional 155,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Laureate Education by 736.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 726,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,316,000 after acquiring an additional 639,726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LAUR. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $34.50 to $36.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Barrington Research initiated coverage on shares of Laureate Education in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Laureate Education from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.90.

Laureate Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR opened at $33.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.45. Laureate Education has a 12 month low of $24.98 and a 12 month high of $40.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.21 and a 200-day moving average of $35.58.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 26.41% and a net margin of 20.28%. The business had revenue of $485.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $480.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laureate Education news, Director Ian Snow sold 427,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.26, for a total value of $15,483,708.94. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,646,324 shares in the company, valued at $59,695,708.24. The trade was a 20.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 521,229 shares of company stock worth $19,103,350 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Laureate Education Profile

Laureate Education, Inc is a higher education company that operates a network of universities and other learning institutions. Its institutions provide undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional education, and online and hybrid learning options across fields such as business, health sciences, engineering, technology, and the social sciences.

The company currently serves students primarily in Mexico and Peru. Its Mexican institutions include Universidad del Valle de México (UVM) and Universidad Tecnológica de México (UNITEC), while its Peruvian institutions include Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) and Universidad Privada del Norte (UPN).