Stride (NYSE:LRN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

Stride (NYSE:LRN) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Stride in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Stride in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Stride from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Stride from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Stride from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Stride Price Performance

Shares of Stride stock traded up $3.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $66.35. 1,295,046 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 783,515. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 4.52 and a quick ratio of 4.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.29. Stride has a twelve month low of $35.61 and a twelve month high of $69.70. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.26.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.13. Stride had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The business had revenue of $520.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $507.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Stride will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stride

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LRN. SG Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Stride by 348.7% during the third quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 563,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,362,000 after buying an additional 437,685 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stride during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,594,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Stride by 89.1% during the third quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,296,000 after buying an additional 222,866 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Stride by 147.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 312,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,526,000 after buying an additional 186,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Stride by 48.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 325,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,672,000 after buying an additional 106,091 shares during the last quarter. 98.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stride Company Profile

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, provides proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services to facilitate individualized learning for students primarily in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) in the United States and internationally.