Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Perdoceo Education in a research note on Monday, April 15th.

Perdoceo Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRDO opened at $18.62 on Thursday. Perdoceo Education has a 52-week low of $11.50 and a 52-week high of $19.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $275,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 713,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,291,313.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total transaction of $175,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 685,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,674,313. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $275,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 713,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,291,313.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,597,350 over the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. AJOVista LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter valued at about $81,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 9.9% in the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 6,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the third quarter valued at about $193,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.