Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

LOPE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Grand Canyon Education from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education from $198.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Barrington Research set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.67.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

LOPE opened at $152.53 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.13. Grand Canyon Education has a fifty-two week low of $134.27 and a fifty-two week high of $223.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.57.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $264.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $261.87 million. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 36.62% and a net margin of 19.63%.The business’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Grand Canyon Education will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LOPE. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new position in Grand Canyon Education during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Grand Canyon Education during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG raised its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Grand Canyon Education Company Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.