Polaris Capital Management LLC Buys 11,300 Shares of Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO)

Polaris Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Perdoceo Education Co. (NASDAQ:PRDO - Free Report) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,800 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,300 shares during the quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC owned 0.08% of Perdoceo Education worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Perdoceo Education by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Perdoceo Education by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 85,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,904,000 after buying an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in Perdoceo Education by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 12,995 shares of the company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Perdoceo Education during the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Perdoceo Education

In related news, CEO Todd S. Nelson sold 12,472 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John Robert Kline sold 12,148 shares of Perdoceo Education stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.79, for a total value of $313,296.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 130,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,363,144.95. The trade was a 8.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,020 shares of company stock valued at $732,102 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Perdoceo Education Stock Up 0.5 %

PRDO traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 285,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 367,378. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $27.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.07. Perdoceo Education Co. has a 12 month low of $16.12 and a 12 month high of $29.47.

Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $169.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.60 million. Perdoceo Education had a net margin of 20.42% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Perdoceo Education Co. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Perdoceo Education Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Perdoceo Education's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PRDO. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Perdoceo Education in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Perdoceo Education from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday.

Perdoceo Education Company 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.