Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $28.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PXED. Zacks Research upgraded Phoenix Education Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Phoenix Education Partners from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. B. Riley Financial lowered shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Phoenix Education Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Phoenix Education Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Phoenix Education Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

Phoenix Education Partners Stock Down 8.6%

Shares of NYSE PXED traded down $1.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.66. The company had a trading volume of 226,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 97,603. The company has a market capitalization of $708.60 million and a PE ratio of 8.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Phoenix Education Partners has a 1-year low of $19.55 and a 1-year high of $35.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.70.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07. Phoenix Education Partners had a return on equity of 60.06% and a net margin of 8.18%. The firm had revenue of $260.68 million during the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Phoenix Education Partners will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Phoenix Education Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This is a boost from Phoenix Education Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. Phoenix Education Partners’s payout ratio is 36.68%.

Insider Transactions at Phoenix Education Partners

In other Phoenix Education Partners news, insider John Woods sold 19,453 shares of Phoenix Education Partners stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total transaction of $503,638.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 62,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,622,836.98. The trade was a 23.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 sold 20,703 shares of company stock worth $534,904. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 743,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,411,000 after acquiring an additional 241,997 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Phoenix Education Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $12,620,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Phoenix Education Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,398,000. Bastion Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Phoenix Education Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,085,000. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Phoenix Education Partners in the third quarter valued at approximately $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.