Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $25.17, but opened at $27.03. Perdoceo Education shares last traded at $29.88, with a volume of 151,353 shares traded.

The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.04. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 16.85% and a net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $213.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is presently 23.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRDO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barrington Research boosted their target price on shares of Perdoceo Education from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Perdoceo Education from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Transactions at Perdoceo Education

In other news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 38,984 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.66, for a total value of $961,345.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 644,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,882,199.02. This trade represents a 5.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Elise Baskel sold 17,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 93,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,255,432.64. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,691 shares of company stock worth $2,774,669 over the last ninety days. 2.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Perdoceo Education

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 353.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,460,000 after purchasing an additional 86,227 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education during the 3rd quarter worth about $647,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 278,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,954,000 after buying an additional 24,434 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Perdoceo Education by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 582,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,948,000 after buying an additional 16,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education during the 4th quarter worth approximately $818,000. Institutional investors own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Perdoceo Education Trading Up 22.5 %

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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87.

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.