Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the health services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%.

Strategic Education has a payout ratio of 35.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Strategic Education to earn $5.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.6%.

Strategic Education Price Performance

Shares of Strategic Education stock opened at $79.80 on Friday. Strategic Education has a 1 year low of $79.37 and a 1 year high of $123.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.59.

Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The health services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.37 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $311.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.18 million. Strategic Education had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.61%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Strategic Education will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STRA has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Strategic Education from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barrington Research lowered their price objective on Strategic Education from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Strategic Education news, CEO Raymond Karl Mcdonnell sold 31,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total transaction of $3,116,374.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 140,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,723,690.23. This trade represents a 18.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Daniel Wayne Jackson sold 6,025 shares of Strategic Education stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.83, for a total transaction of $589,425.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,998,189.48. This trade represents a 6.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute.