Insider Selling: Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) CEO Sells 31,855 Shares of Stock

Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 31,855 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total transaction of $3,116,374.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 140,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,723,690.23. This trade represents a 18.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Strategic Education Price Performance

NASDAQ:STRA traded down $18.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $79.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 319,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,767. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.59. Strategic Education, Inc. has a one year low of $79.37 and a one year high of $123.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $96.88 and its 200-day moving average is $94.93.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The health services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.37 by ($0.10). Strategic Education had a return on equity of 7.61% and a net margin of 10.44%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Strategic Education, Inc. will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Strategic Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Strategic Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Strategic Education

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STRA. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 7,203 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $36,941,000 after acquiring an additional 173,225 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Strategic Education by 11.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,628 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $11,164,000 after purchasing an additional 12,437 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Strategic Education in the third quarter worth about $702,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Strategic Education by 7.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 313,727 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $29,035,000 after purchasing an additional 20,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on STRA. Barrington Research reduced their price objective 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 raised Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Strategic Education has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.25.

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.