Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 29,689 Shares of Laureate Education $LAUR

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 75,725 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,689 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $1,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Laureate Education by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,081,000 after acquiring an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 22.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,968,000 after purchasing an additional 388,143 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the first quarter valued at about $36,637,000. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Laureate Education by 5.2% during the first quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,489,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,455,000 after purchasing an additional 74,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Laureate Education by 1.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,400,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,753,000 after purchasing an additional 13,516 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on LAUR shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laureate Education has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Laureate Education Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Laureate Education stock opened at $31.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 0.61. Laureate Education has a 52-week low of $17.82 and a 52-week high of $32.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.69.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $400.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.77 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.Laureate Education’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Laureate Education declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Laureate Education Profile

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.