Graham Holdings Company $GHC Shares Acquired by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC) by 0.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,522 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Graham were worth $12,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Graham by 68.8% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 27 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Graham by 55.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Graham by 4.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 389 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Graham by 100.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Graham by 7.8% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 319 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graham Stock Up 1.4%

Graham stock opened at $1,106.50 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,068.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,019.05. The company has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.27. Graham Holdings Company has a fifty-two week low of $840.50 and a fifty-two week high of $1,200.00.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $14.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.36 by $1.72. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Graham had a return on equity of 6.34% and a net margin of 14.93%.

Graham Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Graham’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GHC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Graham in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised Graham from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Graham Profile

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.