UPDATE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Raises PO on Apollo Group to $52

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is out with its report today on Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL), raising its PO from $50 to $52.

In a note to clients, Bank of America Merrill Lynch writes, "We appreciate that visibility into results remains limited as Apollo is in a significant transition period but thought there were more positives than negatives in the quarter given the beat, reiterated guidance & positive regulatory news. Our PO is based on 15.5x CY12E EPS of $3.36, just slightly higher than our prior 15.2x target. Apollo has $8.77/sh in net unrestricted cash & $358mn in repurchase authorization (6% of shares)."

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Maintains Buy on APOL.

At the time of posting, shares of APOL were trading pre-market at $45.32, up 3.75% from Thursday's close.