Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Stock: Insider Michael Thawley Acquires 950 Shares

Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Director Michael Thawley purchased 950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.42 per share, for a total transaction of $48,849.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $673,807.68. The trade was a 7.82% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Michael Thawley also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 10th, Michael Thawley acquired 940 shares of Strategic Education stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.68 per share, with a total value of $49,519.20.

Strategic Education Trading Up 2.7%

STRA traded up $1.42 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.37. 458,219 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,673. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 319.79, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.30 and a 200 day moving average of $79.87. Strategic Education Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.70 and a 52 week high of $89.73.

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

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is presently 1,411.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on STRA. Barrington Research cut shares of Strategic Education from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. William Blair downgraded Strategic Education to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings lowered Strategic Education from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Strategic Education from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.00.

About Strategic Education

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.