Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 33,737 Shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 578,997 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,737 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.88% of Perdoceo Education worth $15,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 227.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 122,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,248,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 223.6% in 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. 93.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on PRDO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Perdoceo Education from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Perdoceo Education from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ashish R. Ghia sold 35,677 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total value of $921,536.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 204,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,281,640.91. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michele A. Peppers sold 4,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $129,216.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,468,032. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,820 shares of company stock worth $3,296,615 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.11% of the company’s stock.

Perdoceo Education Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:PRDO opened at $31.35 on Friday. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 52 week low of $20.23 and a 52 week high of $32.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 5.45 and a current ratio of 4.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.65.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $207.97 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Perdoceo Education’s payout ratio is 23.01%.

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.