Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Stride (NYSE:LRN) Stock

Stride (NYSE:LRN) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $109.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.59% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on LRN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Stride from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Stride from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Stride from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Stride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barrington Research upped their price target on Stride from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Stride Stock Performance

Shares of Stride stock opened at $106.25 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.84. Stride has a one year low of $54.81 and a one year high of $112.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 5.60 and a quick ratio of 5.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.30.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.72. Stride had a return on equity of 21.23% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $551.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $504.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Stride’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stride will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stride news, Director Todd Goldthwaite sold 8,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total transaction of $734,883.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,786,209.32. This represents a 8.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Stride in the 2nd quarter worth about $78,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stride in the third quarter worth about $86,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Stride by 27.7% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Stride by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Stride by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

About Stride

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, engages in the provision of proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services in the United States and internationally. Its technology-based products and services enable clients to attract, enroll, educate, track progress, support, and facilitate individualized learning for students.