Christa Hokenson Sells 2,000 Shares of Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) Stock

Strategic Education Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) insider Christa Hokenson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 65,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,215,600. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STRA traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $81.58. 182,574 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,988. Strategic Education Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.70 and a twelve month high of $91.13. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.41.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The health services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $305.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.81 million. Strategic Education had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 10.21%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Strategic Education Inc. will post 7.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STRA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,195 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 40.2% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 43,433 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,647,000 after purchasing an additional 12,444 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 192.7% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 24,657 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 4,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Strategic Education in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $246,000. 93.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on STRA. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Strategic Education from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Strategic Education in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barrington Research dropped their price target on Strategic Education from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 31st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Strategic Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Strategic Education has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.00.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc is a publicly traded higher education services holding company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Through its primary operating subsidiaries, Strayer University and Capella University, the company delivers degree programs and professional development opportunities to working adults. Its offerings span undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, continuing education, and workforce training in fields such as business, technology, health services, education, and public administration.

Strayer University, with a network of physical campuses across the United States complemented by an online platform, provides associate’s through doctoral degrees designed to accommodate non-traditional students.