Riverwater Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

Riverwater Partners LLC bought a new stake in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 47.5% in the 4th 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. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 1,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Perdoceo Education during the third quarter worth $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 raised Perdoceo Education from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Perdoceo Education Price Performance

Perdoceo Education stock opened at $25.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.45, a current ratio of 4.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.41. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 52 week low of $16.56 and a 52 week high of $29.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Perdoceo Education’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 38,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 644,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,882,199.02. This trade represents a 5.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ashish R. Ghia sold 35,677 shares of the business’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 $5,281,640.91. This trade represents a 14.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 122,839 shares of company stock valued at $3,087,966. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

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.