Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Upgraded 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 report published on Thursday.

Separately, Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Perdoceo Education from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Perdoceo Education Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ PRDO traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $26.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 118,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 464,648. Perdoceo Education has a 52 week low of $16.12 and a 52 week high of $29.47. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.36.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $164.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Perdoceo Education news, insider Michele A. Peppers sold 6,476 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $135,996.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 61,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,992. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Perdoceo Education

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,896,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,538,000 after buying an additional 45,259 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Perdoceo Education by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,069,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,580,000 after buying an additional 28,909 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Perdoceo Education by 2.5% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,505,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,512,000 after purchasing an additional 107,918 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Perdoceo Education by 24.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,650,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,766,000 after acquiring an additional 518,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 3.9% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,010,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,060,000 after buying an additional 75,293 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

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.