New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 1,669,052 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 19% from the previous session’s volume of 2,057,776 shares.The stock last traded at $46.37 and had previously closed at $46.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EDU has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday. Macquarie lowered shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $44.00 in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, New Oriental Education & Technology Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.20.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.93.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 8.13%. New Oriental Education & Technology Group’s revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspex Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 4,753,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,640 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 23.2% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,823,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,271,000 after buying an additional 342,800 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 20,215.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 994,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,418,000 after buying an additional 989,536 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 192.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 826,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,703,000 after buying an additional 543,810 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 803,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,938,000 after acquiring an additional 136,138 shares during the last quarter.

About New Oriental Education & Technology Group

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of private educational services. It operates through the following segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses, Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, Overseas Study Consulting Services, and Educational Materials and Distribution.