Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) by 0.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 356,848 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Perdoceo Education were worth $6,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 9.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 40,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 3,671 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in 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 period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 15.6% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 63,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 8,567 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,850,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,744,000 after purchasing an additional 25,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,217,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,380,000 after purchasing an additional 366,202 shares during the period. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

NASDAQ PRDO traded up $0.25 on Friday, reaching $21.55. The company had a trading volume of 54,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,283. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.02. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $24.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.04 and a 200-day moving average of $19.15.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $168.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $163.30 million. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 22.35%. Perdoceo Education’s quarterly revenue was down 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PRDO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Perdoceo Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barrington Research boosted their price target on Perdoceo Education from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ashish R. Ghia sold 11,412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $216,828.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 226,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,298,446. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.81% 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.