Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) Receives $40.50 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LAUR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Laureate Education in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Laureate Education from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.50 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Laureate Education from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Barrington Research started coverage on shares of Laureate Education in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company.

Laureate Education Stock Up 0.9%

Laureate Education stock opened at $36.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Laureate Education has a one year low of $24.98 and a one year high of $40.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.45 and a 200 day moving average of $35.30.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $615.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $607.56 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 23.54% and a net margin of 17.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Laureate Education has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.040-2.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ian Snow sold 427,019 shares of Laureate Education stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.26, for a total transaction of $15,483,708.94. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,646,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,695,708.24. The trade was a 20.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 521,229 shares of company stock worth $19,103,350 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Laureate Education by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,403,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,605,000 after acquiring an additional 92,571 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,654,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,384,000 after purchasing an additional 915,358 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 39.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,155,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,243,000 after purchasing an additional 328,609 shares in the last quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laureate Education during the 4th quarter valued at $27,554,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 751,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,179,000 after buying an additional 155,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc is an international network of higher education institutions that provides undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional education, and other learning services. Its institutions offer programs in fields such as business, engineering, health sciences, law, communications, and technology, through campus-based and digital learning formats.

The company primarily serves students in Mexico and Peru through well-known institutions including Universidad del Valle de México (UVM), Universidad Tecnológica de México (UNITEC), Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), Universidad Privada del Norte (UPN), and Cibertec.