Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Perdoceo Education in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barrington Research raised their price objective on Perdoceo Education from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Perdoceo Education Stock Performance

NASDAQ PRDO opened at $34.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 4.26 and a current ratio of 4.27. Perdoceo Education has a fifty-two week low of $20.55 and a fifty-two week high of $38.02.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $209.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $206.92 million. Perdoceo Education had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 20.09%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Perdoceo Education has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.600-0.620 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.480-2.550 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Perdoceo Education will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Perdoceo Education’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Perdoceo Education

In other news, SVP Elise Baskel sold 21,212 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $742,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 72,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,524,970. This represents a 22.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Greg E. Jansen sold 30,234 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $997,722.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 96,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,207. This trade represents a 23.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 205,656 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,148. 2.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Perdoceo Education

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Perdoceo Education by 5,773.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 22,053 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education during the first quarter worth $464,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 9.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 36,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,245,000 after buying an additional 8,468 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Perdoceo Education in the first quarter valued at about $437,000. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.