First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,296,208 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 241,147 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 5.02% of Perdoceo Education worth $87,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Perdoceo Education by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,803,391 shares of the company's stock worth $40,114,000 after acquiring an additional 33,092 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 353.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,622 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 86,227 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 9.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 278,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,954,000 after acquiring an additional 24,434 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 3.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 582,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,948,000 after acquiring an additional 16,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education during the fourth quarter valued at $358,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Perdoceo Education

In other news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 38,984 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total value of $961,345.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 644,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,882,199.02. This represents a 5.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ashish R. Ghia sold 6,236 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $155,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 252,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,303,250. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,691 shares of company stock valued at $2,774,669 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Perdoceo Education in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Perdoceo Education from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Perdoceo Education Trading Up 0.6 %

PRDO stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $24.92. 436,476 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 474,620. Perdoceo Education Co. has a twelve month low of $18.10 and a twelve month high of $29.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.84 and a quick ratio of 5.45. The business's fifty day moving average is $25.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 16.85%. The firm had revenue of $176.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.12 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Perdoceo Education's payout ratio is currently 23.64%.

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.