Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Position in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 177,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,044 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.27% of Perdoceo Education worth $4,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Perdoceo Education by 227.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Perdoceo Education during the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Perdoceo Education by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 1,355 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education in the 4th quarter worth $172,000. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PRDO shares. Barrington Research lifted their target price on Perdoceo Education from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Perdoceo Education from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Elise Baskel sold 17,818 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.16, for a total transaction of $430,482.88. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 93,354 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,432.64. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 38,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total transaction of $961,345.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 644,047 shares in the company, valued at $15,882,199.02. This represents a 5.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,691 shares of company stock worth $2,774,669 over the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

Shares of PRDO stock opened at $24.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 1-year low of $17.35 and a 1-year high of $29.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.84 and a quick ratio of 5.45.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 16.85% and a net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $176.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.12 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.64%.

Perdoceo Education 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.