BMO Capital Markets Boosts Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Price Target to $20.00

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $17.00 to $20.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price indicates a potential upside of 18.34% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Laureate Education from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Laureate Education Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:LAUR opened at $16.90 on Friday. Laureate Education has a 1 year low of $12.45 and a 1 year high of $18.39. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.27.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.40. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 26.87% and a net margin of 15.76%. The firm had revenue of $368.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $361.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laureate Education

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 77.1% in the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after acquiring an additional 65,507 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Laureate Education by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,231,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,350,000 after purchasing an additional 136,865 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Laureate Education by 81.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 156,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 70,121 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,241,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 56.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 330,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,936,000 after buying an additional 119,600 shares during the period. 96.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.