Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Purchases New Shares in Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 615,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,387,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 1.42% of Stride as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LRN. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Stride in the first quarter worth about $111,377,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Stride in the 1st quarter valued at $60,385,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Stride by 641.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 508,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,058,000 after buying an additional 439,911 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stride during the fourth quarter worth $25,594,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Stride by 147.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 312,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,526,000 after acquiring an additional 186,099 shares during the period. 98.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stride Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:LRN traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $82.53. 1,024,836 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 718,084. The company has a current ratio of 4.29, a quick ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $71.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.48. Stride, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.06 and a 52 week high of $83.84. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.28.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.15. Stride had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 18.29%. The company had revenue of $534.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Stride, Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on LRN shares. StockNews.com upgraded Stride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of Stride in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Barrington Research lifted their target price on shares of Stride from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Stride from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on Stride in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.33.

About Stride

Stride, Inc, a technology-based education service company, provides proprietary and third-party online curriculum, software systems, and educational services to facilitate individualized learning for students primarily in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) in the United States and internationally.