Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

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

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

PRDO opened at $26.55 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.04. Perdoceo Education has a 12 month low of $16.12 and a 12 month high of $29.47.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $169.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.60 million. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 20.42%. Perdoceo Education’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michele A. Peppers sold 6,476 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,300,992. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRDO. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,803,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,114,000 after buying an additional 33,092 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 353.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 86,227 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education during the third quarter worth $9,374,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Perdoceo Education during the third quarter valued at about $1,043,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the third quarter valued at about $114,000. 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.