New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,640,000 shares, a decline of 13.4% from the February 13th total of 9,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EDU. Aspex Management HK Ltd raised its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 7,454,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,701,566 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,539,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,656 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,894,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,952,000 after buying an additional 1,480,391 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,019,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,815,000 after acquiring an additional 442,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 175.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,276,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449,979 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on EDU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Macquarie downgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $79.00 to $44.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.20.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Price Performance

NYSE:EDU traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $52.86. 310,927 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,747,029. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a 1-year low of $44.46 and a 1-year high of $95.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $51.49 and its 200-day moving average is $59.39. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54 and a beta of 0.47.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Company Profile

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of private educational services. It operates through the following segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses, Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, Overseas Study Consulting Services, and Educational Materials and Distribution.