New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stock Holdings in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,217 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,200 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.13% of Perdoceo Education worth $2,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,803,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,114,000 after purchasing an additional 33,092 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 16,720 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 485,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,799,000 after purchasing an additional 5,571 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education in the 3rd quarter valued at $9,374,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 318,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,443,000 after purchasing an additional 10,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Perdoceo Education news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 12,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total value of $327,888.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 615,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,186,674.13. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Robert Kline sold 12,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.79, for a total transaction of $313,296.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 130,405 shares in the company, valued at $3,363,144.95. This represents a 8.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Perdoceo Education Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRDO opened at $25.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.84, a quick ratio of 5.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.89. Perdoceo Education Co. has a twelve month low of $16.56 and a twelve month high of $29.84.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $176.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.12 million. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 16.85%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Perdoceo Education’s dividend 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.