Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Stake in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) by 70.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,292 shares of the company’s stock after selling 159,950 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of Perdoceo Education worth $1,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PRDO. Boston Partners lifted its position in Perdoceo Education by 41.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,209,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,379,000 after acquiring an additional 352,470 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 63.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 686,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,182,000 after purchasing an additional 265,401 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 742,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,650,000 after purchasing an additional 160,162 shares in the last quarter. Kennondale Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education in the fourth quarter valued at $2,558,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 353.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after purchasing an additional 86,227 shares in the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on PRDO shares. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on shares of Perdoceo Education from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Perdoceo Education from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Activity at Perdoceo Education

In other Perdoceo Education 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 transaction of $961,345.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 644,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,882,199.02. This represents a 5.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashish R. Ghia sold 6,236 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $155,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 252,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,303,250. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 110,691 shares of company stock valued at $2,774,669. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Perdoceo Education Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PRDO opened at $25.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.84, a quick ratio of 5.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 12-month low of $16.79 and a 12-month high of $29.84.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $176.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.12 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.64%.

Perdoceo Education 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.