Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Barrington Research restated an outperform rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Perdoceo Education in a research note on Monday, April 15th.

Perdoceo Education Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ PRDO opened at $18.86 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.96. Perdoceo Education has a 1 year low of $11.50 and a 1 year high of $19.62.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 20.80%. The business had revenue of $147.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Perdoceo Education’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Perdoceo Education will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Perdoceo Education news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $175,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,098 shares in the company, valued at $12,674,313. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $175,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 685,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,674,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.65, for a total transaction of $282,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 681,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,026,127.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,500 shares of company stock worth $1,301,350 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRDO. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Perdoceo Education during the 3rd quarter worth $843,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 11.4% during the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 35,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,651 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education during the third quarter worth about $193,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 4.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 804 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 5.3% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 80,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Perdoceo Education Company Profile

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.