AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 16,631 Shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,988 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,631 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.23% of Perdoceo Education worth $4,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Perdoceo Education by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 912,898 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,164,000 after purchasing an additional 30,881 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its position in Perdoceo Education by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 281,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,447,000 after buying an additional 50,839 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in Perdoceo Education by 223.6% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC bought a new stake in Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter valued at about $346,000. 93.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRDO has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Perdoceo Education from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barrington Research upped their price target on Perdoceo Education from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

PRDO opened at $31.06 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.28. Perdoceo Education Co. has a twelve month low of $20.23 and a twelve month high of $31.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.45, a current ratio of 4.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.79.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.04. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 16.85%. The business had revenue of $213.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $207.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Perdoceo Education's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michele A. Peppers sold 13,091 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $392,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,497,420. This represents a 20.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Elise Baskel sold 17,818 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.16, for a total value of $430,482.88. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 93,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,255,432.64. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 123,782 shares of company stock valued at $3,167,399. Company insiders own 2.11% 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.

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