Graham (NYSE:GHC) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $1,269.00 and last traded at $1,261.5450, with a volume of 1,006 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $1,241.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Graham from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Graham from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy”.

Graham Trading Up 1.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,164.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,137.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $18.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $18.36 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Graham had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 9.66%.

Graham Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.88 per share. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. Graham’s payout ratio is presently 6.61%.

Institutional Trading of Graham

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Graham by 1.4% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 647 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graham by 4.7% in the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graham by 2.3% in the second quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Graham by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 45 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Graham by 65.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 33 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Graham

Graham Holdings Company is a diversified American holding company formerly known as The Washington Post Company. The company changed its name in 2013 after the sale of the newspaper publishing business to Jeff Bezos. Today, Graham Holdings operates a portfolio of businesses across education, media, healthcare, automotive, manufacturing and other industries.

Its largest business is Kaplan, a provider of educational services, professional training and test preparation. Graham Holdings also owns Graham Media Group, which operates local television stations in several U.S.