Cullen Capital Management LLC Sells 261,884 Shares of Laureate Education $LAUR

Cullen Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) by 30.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 602,831 shares of the company’s stock after selling 261,884 shares during the quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Laureate Education were worth $14,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Laureate Education by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,060,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,081,000 after purchasing an additional 387,567 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Laureate Education by 0.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,139,000 after buying an additional 30,808 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 3.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,272,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,506,000 after buying an additional 105,712 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Laureate Education by 22.4% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,503,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,669,000 after buying an additional 458,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Laureate Education by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,150,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,968,000 after acquiring an additional 388,143 shares during the last quarter. 96.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAUR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Laureate Education in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research cut Laureate Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Laureate Education from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Laureate Education in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Laureate Education Price Performance

Shares of LAUR opened at $32.14 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.21 and a 200-day moving average of $27.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46 and a beta of 0.60. Laureate Education has a 1 year low of $17.82 and a 1 year high of $33.03.

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.10). Laureate Education had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 22.99%. The company had revenue of $400.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.77 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Laureate Education will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laureate Education declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Laureate Education Company Profile

Laureate Education, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers higher education programs and services to students through a network of universities and higher education institutions. The company provides a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the areas of business and management, medicine and health sciences, and engineering and information technology through campus-based, online, and hybrid programs.