TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $10.98, but opened at $9.36. TAL Education Group shares last traded at $9.38, with a volume of 15,839,250 shares.

The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $610.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $639.89 million. TAL Education Group had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 3.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.08 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TAL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of TAL Education Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Macquarie lowered TAL Education Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $10.90 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded TAL Education Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on TAL Education Group from $16.40 to $17.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TAL. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of TAL Education Group by 2,706.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,045,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,864,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830,321 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in TAL Education Group by 70.1% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 221,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,928,000 after purchasing an additional 91,314 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in TAL Education Group by 935.2% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,875,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,776,000 after buying an additional 1,694,390 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in TAL Education Group by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 66,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 3,195 shares during the period. Finally, GAM Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group during the first quarter worth $4,122,000. 37.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TAL Education Group Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.29. The company has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.16 and a beta of 0.03.

About TAL Education Group

TAL Education Group provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People’s Republic of China. It provides learning services primarily through small-classes services; personalized premium services; and learning content solutions, such as print books, smart books, mobile apps, and AI-driven learning devices.