Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $170.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barrington Research upped their price target on shares of 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LOPE opened at $161.81 on Friday. Grand Canyon Education has a 52-week low of $118.48 and a 52-week high of $173.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Grand Canyon Education

In other Grand Canyon Education news, CTO Dilek Marsh sold 1,500 shares of Grand Canyon Education stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.23, for a total value of $211,845.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 22,674 shares in the company, valued at $3,202,249.02. The trade was a 6.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 47.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 538,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,452,000 after buying an additional 173,800 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Grand Canyon Education by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,323,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,725,000 after acquiring an additional 141,648 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 78.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 308,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,977,000 after purchasing an additional 135,626 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 41.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 285,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,882,000 after purchasing an additional 82,855 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 89.7% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 173,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,215,000 after purchasing an additional 81,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

About Grand Canyon Education

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.