Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on PXED. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Phoenix Education Partners in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on Phoenix Education Partners from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Phoenix Education Partners in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Phoenix Education Partners from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Phoenix Education Partners from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

Phoenix Education Partners Trading Down 3.1%

PXED opened at $28.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion and a PE ratio of 13.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Phoenix Education Partners has a 12-month low of $23.52 and a 12-month high of $47.08.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $271.80 million during the quarter. Phoenix Education Partners had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 60.06%. As a group, research analysts expect that Phoenix Education Partners will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phoenix Education Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Phoenix Education Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 39.07%.

Institutional Trading of Phoenix Education Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Phoenix Education Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,681,000. UBS Group AG bought a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $2,618,000. Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Phoenix Education Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $303,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Phoenix Education Partners during the fourth quarter valued at $44,774,000.

Phoenix Education Partners Company Profile

Our Mission To provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities. We are a mission-driven organization operating at the forefront of the rapidly evolving post-secondary education market. As one of the largest online education providers and a pioneer in our field, we benefit from the dynamic interplay between technological innovation, education, employment and economic trends.