Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Earns Outperform Rating from Barrington Research

Barrington Research reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $23.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Perdoceo Education from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th.

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

Perdoceo Education stock opened at $16.84 on Monday. Perdoceo Education has a fifty-two week low of $11.50 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is currently 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 16,000 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $296,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,674,313. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total transaction of $296,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,674,313. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $12,674,313. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,189,350 over the last quarter. 2.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,930,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,079,000 after buying an additional 158,927 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,064,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,940,000 after acquiring an additional 74,877 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,765,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,583,000 after purchasing an additional 47,046 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,147,000 after acquiring an additional 395,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 3.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,487,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,251,000 after buying an additional 53,047 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.