2U (NASDAQ:TWOU) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of 2U (NASDAQ:TWOU) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of 2U from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 2U from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $4.31.

2U Stock Performance

Shares of 2U stock opened at $0.25 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $0.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.06 and a beta of 0.83. 2U has a 12 month low of $0.24 and a 12 month high of $6.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

2U (NASDAQ:TWOU) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $255.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.84 million. 2U had a negative net margin of 33.58% and a negative return on equity of 7.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that 2U will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On 2U

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in 2U by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 9,765,122 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $24,120,000 after buying an additional 981,368 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 2U by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,153,185 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,707,000 after purchasing an additional 458,189 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 2U by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,817,383 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,450,000 after purchasing an additional 77,706 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 2U by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,769,009 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $23,492,000 after purchasing an additional 177,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 2U by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,759,732 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,347,000 after purchasing an additional 225,253 shares in the last quarter. 80.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About 2U

2U, Inc operates as an online education platform company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Degree Program and Alternative Credential. The Degree Program segment provides the technology and services to nonprofit colleges and universities to enable the online delivery of degree programs.