State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Has $3.12 Million Stock Holdings in Laureate Education $LAUR

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 133,502 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,686 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Laureate Education worth $3,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Laureate Education by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 367,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC bought a new position in shares of Laureate Education during the second quarter valued at $488,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 911,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,314,000 after purchasing an additional 20,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Laureate Education by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,489,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,455,000 after purchasing an additional 74,060 shares in the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on LAUR shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Laureate Education from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.67.

Laureate Education Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of LAUR opened at $31.08 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 0.60. Laureate Education has a 12-month low of $17.82 and a 12-month high of $32.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.10). Laureate Education had a return on equity of 22.99% and a net margin of 12.86%.The firm had revenue of $400.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laureate Education declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.