Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Separately, Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Perdoceo Education from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Perdoceo Education Stock Up 0.5 %

PRDO opened at $28.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.06. Perdoceo Education has a 12-month low of $16.12 and a 12-month high of $29.47.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $169.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.60 million. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 20.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio is 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Perdoceo Education news, SVP John Robert Kline sold 30,574 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.47, for a total value of $809,293.78. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 130,405 shares in the company, valued at $3,451,820.35. This represents a 18.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Patrick W. Gross sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.74, for a total value of $90,916.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 69,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,039.90. This represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,594 shares of company stock worth $1,541,396 over the last three months. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Perdoceo Education

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 84,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,000 after acquiring an additional 16,200 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 43,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 6,875 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 318,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,443,000 after purchasing an additional 10,680 shares in the last quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC now owns 54,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,451,000 after buying an additional 11,300 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 92,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,458,000 after buying an additional 26,142 shares in the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Perdoceo Education

Perdoceo Education Corporation provides postsecondary education through online, campus-based, and blended learning programs in the United States. It operates in two segments, Colorado Technical University and The American InterContinental University System. The Colorado Technical University segment offers academic programs, such as business and management, nursing, healthcare management, computer science, engineering, information systems and technology, project management, cybersecurity, and criminal justice.