Commerce Bank Decreases Stock Position in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE)

Commerce Bank lessened its holdings in Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,836 shares of the company’s stock after selling 523 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Grand Canyon Education were worth $544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of LOPE. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Grand Canyon Education in the 2nd quarter worth $1,961,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the first quarter worth about $2,180,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 7.0% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 66,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,865,000 after buying an additional 4,388 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Grand Canyon Education by 450.7% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,459,000 after buying an additional 14,386 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Grand Canyon Education by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 423,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,092,000 after buying an additional 19,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LOPE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $152.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $170.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barrington Research lifted their price objective on Grand Canyon Education from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

NASDAQ:LOPE opened at $166.64 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $145.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.18. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.48 and a 1-year high of $173.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.70.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.01. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 22.09% and a return on equity of 31.01%. The company had revenue of $238.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Grand Canyon Education news, CTO Dilek Marsh sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.23, for a total transaction of $211,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 22,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,202,249.02. This represents a 6.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Grand Canyon Education Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.