Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

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

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRDO opened at $28.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.06. Perdoceo Education has a 1-year low of $16.12 and a 1-year high of $29.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.22.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 20.42%. The company had revenue of $169.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John Robert Kline sold 30,574 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.47, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,451,820.35. This trade represents a 18.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 12,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total value of $327,888.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 615,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,186,674.13. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,594 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,396 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education in the third quarter valued at $9,374,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Perdoceo Education by 944.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 246,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,283,000 after acquiring an additional 223,050 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 353.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 86,227 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Perdoceo Education during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,836,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Perdoceo Education by 296.7% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 96,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 71,995 shares during the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is 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.