American Century Companies Inc. Buys 79,686 Shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,627,190 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,686 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 2.48% of Perdoceo Education worth $43,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Perdoceo Education by 227.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,696 shares of the company's stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Perdoceo Education by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,875 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Perdoceo Education in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,000. Institutional investors own 93.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PRDO. Barrington Research boosted their price target on Perdoceo Education from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Perdoceo Education from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

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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 dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total value of $327,888.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 615,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,186,674.13. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John Robert Kline sold 12,148 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 130,405 shares in the company, valued at $3,363,144.95. This represents a 8.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,634 shares of company stock worth $2,494,318 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Perdoceo Education Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRDO traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.12. 592,641 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 474,992. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.04. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $26.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.35. Perdoceo Education Co. has a twelve month low of $16.56 and a twelve month high of $29.84.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 16.85%. The firm had revenue of $176.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.12 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Perdoceo Education's dividend payout ratio is 23.64%.

Perdoceo Education 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.