Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $139.55 and last traded at $146.2330, with a volume of 164129 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $149.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LOPE shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $198.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $100.00 price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Grand Canyon Education currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.67.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $150.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.12.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.08. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 34.72%. The firm had revenue of $308.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $307.75 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grand Canyon Education

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 24.0% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 391,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,093,000 after buying an additional 75,758 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 882,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,358,000 after buying an additional 237,939 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 178.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 51,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,406,000 after acquiring an additional 33,173 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. 94.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Grand Canyon Education Company Profile

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.