Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Receives $30.67 Average Target Price from Analysts

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.6667.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LAUR. UBS Group raised their price target on Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laureate Education

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAUR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,081,000 after buying an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Laureate Education by 1,060.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,101,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,888,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,417 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Laureate Education by 0.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,139,000 after purchasing an additional 30,808 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Laureate Education by 3.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,272,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,506,000 after purchasing an additional 105,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Laureate Education by 22.4% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,503,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,669,000 after acquiring an additional 458,202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Laureate Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR opened at $30.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.03. Laureate Education has a one year low of $17.82 and a one year high of $32.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.10). Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.The company had revenue of $400.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Laureate Education’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Laureate Education has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laureate Education announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Laureate Education Company 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.