New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Rating Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) was downgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $52.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $83.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.45% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday. Macquarie cut shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $44.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, New Oriental Education & Technology Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.40.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Trading Down 23.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EDU opened at $46.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94 and a beta of 0.44. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a 12 month low of $44.46 and a 12 month high of $98.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.57 and its 200 day moving average is $65.19.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 9.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that New Oriental Education & Technology Group will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 155.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $212,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $297,000.

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.