Graham (NYSE:GHC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $1,269.00 and last traded at $1,261.5450, with a volume of 1,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,241.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Graham from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Graham from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

Graham Stock Down 0.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,166.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,138.62. The company has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 0.73.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $18.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $18.36 by $0.41. Graham had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 9.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion.

Graham Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th were issued a $1.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Graham’s payout ratio is currently 6.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graham

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GHC. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Graham by 11.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,051,000 after buying an additional 1,315 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in Graham by 135.0% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,979,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Graham by 551.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,938,000 after acquiring an additional 7,957 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Graham during the second quarter worth $1,138,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Graham during the first quarter worth $1,554,000. Institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Graham Company Profile

Graham Holdings Company is a diversified American holding company formerly known as The Washington Post Company. The company changed its name in 2013 after the sale of the newspaper publishing business to Jeff Bezos. Today, Graham Holdings operates a portfolio of businesses across education, media, healthcare, automotive, manufacturing and other industries.

Its largest business is Kaplan, a provider of educational services, professional training and test preparation. Graham Holdings also owns Graham Media Group, which operates local television stations in several U.S.