Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

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

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

PRDO traded down $0.25 on Wednesday, hitting $28.18. The company had a trading volume of 303,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 392,893. Perdoceo Education has a 1-year low of $16.12 and a 1-year high of $29.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Patrick W. Gross sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.74, for a total transaction of $90,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 69,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,862,039.90. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Robert Kline sold 30,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 18.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,594 shares of company stock worth $1,541,396. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in Perdoceo Education by 1,306.3% during 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 period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 38.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Perdoceo Education by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Perdoceo Education during the 3rd quarter worth $114,000. 93.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.