Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The stock traded as low as $149.37 and last traded at $154.60, with a volume of 999537 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $167.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Grand Canyon Education in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Grand Canyon Education from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Grand Canyon Education Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.49.

Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.02. Grand Canyon Education had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $308.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $307.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Grand Canyon Education, Inc. will post 8.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grand Canyon Education

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LOPE. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Grand Canyon Education during the fourth quarter worth approximately $174,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,029,000 after buying an additional 4,091 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in shares of Grand Canyon Education by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Grand Canyon Education in the 4th quarter valued at $458,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Grand Canyon Education Company Profile

Grand Canyon Education, Inc provides a suite of higher‐education services through a long-term agreement with Grand Canyon University (GCU), one of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The company’s offerings encompass a full range of academic and operational support functions, including enrollment management, student recruitment, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and technology infrastructure. Through its online program management capabilities, Grand Canyon Education helps design, market and deliver undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to meet the needs of both traditional and non‐traditional learners.

Core services include digital marketing, admissions support, student success coaching, learning management systems and faculty recruitment.