Insider Selling: Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) CFO Sells $589,425.75 in Stock

Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 6,025 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total value of $589,425.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,998,189.48. This represents a 6.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Strategic Education Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ STRA opened at $80.53 on Friday. Strategic Education, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.62 and a fifty-two week high of $123.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.33 and a 200-day moving average of $94.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.59.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The health services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.37 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $311.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.18 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.61%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Strategic Education, Inc. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 51.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STRA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barrington Research dropped their price target on Strategic Education from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.25.

Institutional Trading of Strategic Education

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STRA. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 43,755 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Strategic Education by 76.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 399,144 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $36,941,000 after buying an additional 173,225 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Strategic Education by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,628 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $11,164,000 after buying an additional 12,437 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Strategic Education by 1,337.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,495 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 7,904 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Strategic Education during the 3rd quarter valued at about $702,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Strategic Education Company Profile

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.