Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Cut 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 note released on Thursday.

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

Perdoceo Education Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of PRDO stock opened at $27.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.06. Perdoceo Education has a fifty-two week low of $16.12 and a fifty-two week high of $29.47.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 20.42% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The company had revenue of $169.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Perdoceo Education

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 1,306.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education during the third quarter worth $114,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Perdoceo Education in the third quarter valued at about $133,000. 93.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.