We wouldn't blame Perdoceo Education Corporation (NASDAQ:PRDO) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Todd Nelson, the President recently netted about US$835k selling shares at an average price of US$17.40. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 16%, which is notable but not too bad.

Perdoceo Education Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Todd Nelson is the biggest insider sale of Perdoceo Education shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of US$17.92, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 16%of Todd Nelson's holding.

Insiders in Perdoceo Education didn't buy any shares in the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.5% of Perdoceo Education shares, worth about US$17m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Perdoceo Education Tell Us?

An insider hasn't bought Perdoceo Education stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But since Perdoceo Education is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Perdoceo Education. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Perdoceo Education you should be aware of.

Of course Perdoceo Education may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.