New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $55.40, but opened at $54.00. New Oriental Education & Technology Group shares last traded at $54.69, with a volume of 463,407 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EDU shares. StockNews.com raised New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup cut their price target on New Oriental Education & Technology Group from $127.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $83.00 price objective on New Oriental Education & Technology Group in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New Oriental Education & Technology Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.67.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 0.49.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EDU. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC grew its position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 7,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,425,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group in the third quarter worth $1,860,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 11.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after purchasing an additional 3,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group in the third quarter valued at $1,261,000.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Company Profile

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc provides private educational services under the New Oriental brand in the People’s Republic of China. The company operates through four segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses; Online Education and Other Services; Overseas Study Consulting Services; and Educational Materials and Distribution.