State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Boosts Stake in Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,353 shares of the health services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,744 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Strategic Education were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Strategic Education by 83.0% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 11,817 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 5,358 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of Strategic Education during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,357,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Strategic Education during the 1st quarter worth $738,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Strategic Education by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 369,728 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $40,914,000 after acquiring an additional 25,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beck Bode LLC purchased a new position in Strategic Education in the second quarter worth $1,028,000. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on STRA shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Strategic Education from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Strategic Education from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Strategic Education in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Strategic Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Strategic Education has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.00.

Strategic Education Price Performance

STRA opened at $95.78 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.57. Strategic Education, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.11 and a 1 year high of $123.62.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The health services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $305.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.62 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Strategic Education, Inc. will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Strategic Education’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

About Strategic Education

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.