Stride (NYSE:LRN) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Stride (NYSE:LRN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

LRN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Stride in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Stride from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Stride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Stride from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barrington Research increased their price objective on shares of Stride from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

Stride Stock Performance

Shares of LRN opened at $89.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.95 and a current ratio of 5.10. Stride has a 1 year low of $43.90 and a 1 year high of $89.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.66.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $551.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $504.29 million. Stride had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 19.12%. Stride’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stride will post 5.05 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Stride by 4.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 29,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stride by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 231,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,582,000 after acquiring an additional 11,495 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Stride by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 31,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after acquiring an additional 4,546 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Stride by 48.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 105,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,698,000 after purchasing an additional 34,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Stride by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 34,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,196,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. 98.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Stride

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, engages in the provision of proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services in the United States and internationally. Its technology-based products and services enable clients to attract, enroll, educate, track progress, support, and facilitate individualized learning for students.