Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Stock: Insider William Slocum Acquires 1,000 Shares

Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Director William Slocum bought 1,000 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.00 per share, with a total value of $52,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,815 shares in the company, valued at $458,380. This trade represents a 12.80% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Strategic Education Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of STRA stock traded up $1.42 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.37. 458,219 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,673. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 319.79, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.51. Strategic Education Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.70 and a twelve month high of $89.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $78.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.87.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The health services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.23). Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $325.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Strategic Education Inc. will post 7.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 30th. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is currently 1,411.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Strategic Education

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STRA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Strategic Education in the second quarter valued at about $291,189,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Strategic Education by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,458,740 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $121,017,000 after purchasing an additional 7,346 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Strategic Education by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 454,509 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $37,706,000 after purchasing an additional 106,487 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Strategic Education by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 263,439 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $21,863,000 after purchasing an additional 25,658 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of Strategic Education by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 275,342 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $21,097,000 after purchasing an additional 57,824 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on STRA. William Blair cut shares of Strategic Education to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Strategic Education from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut Strategic Education from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $66.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Barrington Research cut Strategic Education from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.00.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc. is an education services company that provides postsecondary programs and workforce-focused learning services. Its U.S. institutions include Strayer University and Capella University, which offer undergraduate and graduate programs in fields such as business, technology, health care and education through online and campus-based instruction. Outside the United States, the company operates Torrens University Australia and other education institutions serving students in Australia and New Zealand.