R Squared Ltd Buys Shares of 2,369 Strategic Education Inc. $STRA

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,369 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of STRA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 36.7% in the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 229.3% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 65,113 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $5,467,000 after acquiring an additional 45,341 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 127,684 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $10,720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,256 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 3.7% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,107 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lightrock Netherlands B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 86.4% during the first quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 91,804 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $7,721,000 after acquiring an additional 42,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on STRA. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Strategic Education currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.33.

Strategic Education Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:STRA opened at $84.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $82.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.64. Strategic Education Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.25 and a 12-month high of $104.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.47, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.67.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.52% and a net margin of 9.27%.The firm had revenue of $321.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.84 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Strategic Education Inc. will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.90%.

Insider Transactions at Strategic Education

In other Strategic Education news, Director G Thomas Waite III sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.69, for a total value of $57,183.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,300,994.94. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson acquired 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $81.50 per share, for a total transaction of $154,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 104,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,487,084. This trade represents a 1.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.