Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Receives Outperform Rating from Barrington Research

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Barrington Research in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $180.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.38% from the stock’s previous close.

LOPE has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $170.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Grand Canyon Education from $152.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

LOPE stock opened at $170.81 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $165.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.77. Grand Canyon Education has a fifty-two week low of $118.48 and a fifty-two week high of $176.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.75.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $238.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Grand Canyon Education will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Dilek Marsh sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.07, for a total value of $249,105.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 21,174 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,366.18. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grand Canyon Education

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Grand Canyon Education during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 66.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Grand Canyon Education Company 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.