Stride (NYSE:LRN) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Stride in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Stride from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating on shares of Stride in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Stride from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Stride from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Stride presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Stride Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LRN opened at $66.36 on Thursday. Stride has a fifty-two week low of $35.61 and a fifty-two week high of $69.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 4.44 and a current ratio of 4.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.29.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.13. Stride had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 18.29%. The business had revenue of $520.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $507.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stride will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stride

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LRN. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stride by 348.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 578 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stride by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Stride by 126.3% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 34,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 19,068 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Stride in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Stride in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Institutional investors own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

About Stride

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, provides proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services to facilitate individualized learning for students primarily in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) in the United States and internationally.