Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at B. Riley Financial

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) was downgraded by equities research analysts at B. Riley Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $25.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley Financial‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.41% from the stock’s current price.

PXED has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Phoenix Education Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Phoenix Education Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Phoenix Education Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

Phoenix Education Partners Trading Down 1.7%

PXED stock opened at $23.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.84. Phoenix Education Partners has a fifty-two week low of $23.15 and a fifty-two week high of $36.40. The firm has a market cap of $846.99 million and a PE ratio of 10.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.91.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.07. Phoenix Education Partners had a return on equity of 60.06% and a net margin of 8.18%. The company had revenue of $260.68 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Phoenix Education Partners will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Phoenix Education Partners

In related news, insider John Woods sold 19,453 shares of Phoenix Education Partners stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total value of $503,638.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 62,682 shares in the company, valued at $1,622,836.98. This trade represents a 23.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,703 shares of company stock valued at $534,904. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PXED. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Phoenix Education Partners by 48.3% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 743,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,411,000 after buying an additional 241,997 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the second quarter worth $12,620,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the second quarter valued at $2,398,000. Bastion Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the first quarter valued at $2,085,000. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the third quarter valued at $1,653,000.

About Phoenix Education Partners

Phoenix Education Partners, Inc is a higher education company focused on serving working adults and other nontraditional students. Through the University of Phoenix, its principal operating institution, the company provides career-oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional certificates, and other educational offerings.

The University of Phoenix primarily delivers instruction through online learning, with programs designed to offer flexible scheduling for students balancing education with employment and other responsibilities.