Capital Research Global Investors Sells 16,827 Shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. $LOPE

Capital Research Global Investors cut its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 436,021 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,827 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 1.56% of Grand Canyon Education worth $95,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LOPE. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.9% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 982,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,730,000 after acquiring an additional 36,546 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 3.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 597,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,940,000 after purchasing an additional 20,485 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 57.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 560,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,853,000 after purchasing an additional 204,582 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 523,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after purchasing an additional 15,235 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 405,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,017,000 after purchasing an additional 12,834 shares during the period. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LOPE shares. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ LOPE opened at $161.61 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $168.17 and its 200 day moving average is $181.26. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.37 and a 12 month high of $223.04. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.02. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 33.28% and a net margin of 19.54%.The business had revenue of $308.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $307.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.