Barrington Research Reiterates Outperform Rating for American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI)

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Barrington Research in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $56.00 target price on the stock. Barrington Research’s price target points to a potential downside of 3.77% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on APEI. Griffin Securities set a $53.00 target price on shares of American Public Education in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of American Public Education from $38.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on American Public Education from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen cut American Public Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $51.00 price objective on American Public Education in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.50.

American Public Education Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:APEI opened at $58.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.46. American Public Education has a 52-week low of $23.00 and a 52-week high of $61.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.52. The company has a quick ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $158.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.61 million. American Public Education had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 4.86%.American Public Education has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.640 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Public Education will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider 325 Capital Llc sold 65,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.78, for a total transaction of $3,495,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 836,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,972,664.52. This trade represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nuno S. Fernandes sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total value of $59,488.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 83,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,492,696. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 377,071 shares of company stock valued at $20,753,569 in the last three months. 10.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APEI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 4.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Public Education by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 538,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,018,000 after purchasing an additional 21,079 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Public Education by 7.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 97,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 6,671 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in American Public Education by 9.3% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in American Public Education by 40.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.62% of the company’s stock.

About American Public Education

American Public Education, Inc operates as a provider of online postsecondary education, offering degree and certificate programs through its wholly owned subsidiary, American Public University System (APUS). The company designs and delivers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs in fields such as business administration, information technology, criminal justice, homeland security, health sciences, and education. Its curriculum is developed to meet the needs of working adults, military personnel, veterans and civilian students seeking flexible, career-relevant learning opportunities.

APUS is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and employs a proprietary online learning platform that supports asynchronous instruction, digital course materials and interactive learning tools.