New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Given New $95.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $95.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Performance

EDU stock traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $87.12. 172,818 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,710,856. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $87.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.82. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.99 and a beta of 0.50. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a fifty-two week low of $35.70 and a fifty-two week high of $98.20.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $869.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.01 million. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 8.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 36.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.01 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that New Oriental Education & Technology Group will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EDU. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 130.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 37,490,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,114,000 after acquiring an additional 21,246,644 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the first quarter worth about $3,799,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 92.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,631,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,274,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,254 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 158.8% during the first quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 5,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,750,000 after purchasing an additional 3,067,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC acquired a new position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group during the first quarter worth about $2,372,000.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Company Profile

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc provides private educational services under the New Oriental brand in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through four segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses; Online Education and Other Services; Overseas Study Consulting Services; and Educational Materials and Distribution.