Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a decline of 20.4% from the December 31st total of 3,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 615,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Laureate Education Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LAUR traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $18.72. The company had a trading volume of 564,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 474,620. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Laureate Education has a 1-year low of $12.52 and a 1-year high of $19.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.87.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $368.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.80 million. Laureate Education had a return on equity of 27.13% and a net margin of 15.76%. Laureate Education’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Laureate Education will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Corro Pedro Del sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.58, for a total value of $489,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,686 shares in the company, valued at $581,251.88. This represents a 45.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laureate Education

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 51.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Laureate Education in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Laureate Education by 62.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in Laureate Education in the third quarter valued at about $95,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Laureate Education in the third quarter valued at about $147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Laureate Education from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Laureate Education Company Profile

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.