Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on LOPE. Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Grand Canyon Education from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Grand Canyon Education from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th.

Grand Canyon Education Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LOPE opened at $139.82 on Thursday. Grand Canyon Education has a 52-week low of $108.41 and a 52-week high of $157.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $143.65 and a 200 day moving average of $138.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $227.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.56 million. Grand Canyon Education had a return on equity of 31.81% and a net margin of 21.66%. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Grand Canyon Education will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Grand Canyon Education

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,005,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,363,000 after acquiring an additional 24,871 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Grand Canyon Education by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 850,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,971,000 after purchasing an additional 11,179 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Grand Canyon Education by 1.5% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 756,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,908,000 after purchasing an additional 11,540 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 1.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 716,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,197,000 after purchasing an additional 12,509 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 47.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 538,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,452,000 after purchasing an additional 173,800 shares during the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Grand Canyon Education

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. It offers technology services, including learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services, such as program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support services comprising admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services.