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 report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Perdoceo Education in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Perdoceo Education Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of PRDO opened at $28.39 on Tuesday. Perdoceo Education has a 12 month low of $16.12 and a 12 month high of $29.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.55. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.07.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $164.60 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Perdoceo Education’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Patrick W. Gross sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.74, for a total transaction of $90,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 69,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,039.90. The trade was a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Robert Kline sold 30,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.47, for a total transaction of $809,293.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 130,405 shares in the company, valued at $3,451,820.35. The trade was a 18.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,594 shares of company stock valued at $1,541,396 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Perdoceo Education

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Perdoceo Education by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 66,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,484,000 after acquiring an additional 13,977 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 3,465.3% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 6,099 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 8.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 97,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,328 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the third quarter worth $234,000. Institutional investors 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.