Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,550 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Strategic Education during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,016,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 6,377.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 178,182 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $16,459,000 after purchasing an additional 175,431 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 16,246 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 17,924 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 27.8% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STRA has been the subject of several research reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $103.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $104.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Strategic Education from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Strategic Education presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.25.

Strategic Education Stock Performance

Shares of STRA opened at $98.11 on Friday. Strategic Education, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.53 and a 12 month high of $111.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The health services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.34. Strategic Education had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 5.52%. The business had revenue of $302.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Strategic Education, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 82.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 3,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $356,262.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 71,770 shares in the company, valued at $6,886,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Strategic Education news, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 3,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total value of $356,262.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 71,770 shares in the company, valued at $6,886,331.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.99, for a total transaction of $1,230,591.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,488,850.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Strategic Education 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.