Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS – Get a rating) was updated by stock researchers from StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong buy” rating in a research note released on Friday.
PRGS has been the subject of several other reports. Oppenheimer lowered his price target on Progress Software shares from $60.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a Wednesday, June 29 report. Guggenheim began coverage of Progress Software in a research report on Friday, August 12. They set a “buy” rating and a target price of $60.00 on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group took over coverage from Progress Software in a Friday, September 9 report. They issued a “hold” rating and a price target of $52.00 for the company. Citigroup lowered its price target on Progress Software from $52.00 to $46.00 in a Thursday, September 29 report. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperforming” rating on Progress Software shares in a Wednesday, June 29 research report. Two equity research analysts gave the stock a hold rating, four gave the company a buy rating and one gave the company a strong buy rating. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.20.
Progress software stock down 0.7%
NASDAQ PRGS shares opened at $45.32 on Friday. The stock has a fifty-day moving average price of $46.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt ratio of 1.67. Progress Software has a 12-month minimum of $40.33 and a 12-month maximum of $53.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.00.
Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS – Get a rating) last released its results on Tuesday, September 27. The software maker reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.00 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $0.97 by $0.03. The company posted revenue of $153.06 million in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $148.10 million. Progress Software achieved a return on equity of 39.31% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter increased by 0.3% compared to the same quarter last year. In the same quarter last year, the company earned earnings per share of $1.06. Research analysts expect Progress Software to post an EPS of 3.46 for the current fiscal year.
Insider buying and selling
Separately, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 5,000 shares of the company in a trade that took place on Thursday, July 21. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.58, for a total value of $232,900.00. As a result of the sale, the CEO now owns 75,000 shares of the company, valued at approximately $3,493,500. The sale was disclosed in an SEC filing, available at the SEC website. Separately, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 5,000 shares of the company in a trade dated Thursday, July 21. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.58, for a total transaction of $232,900.00. Following completion of the transaction, the CEO now owns 75,000 shares of the company, valued at $3,493,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via this hyperlink. Also, VPE Jeremy Segal sold 1,258 shares of Progress Software in a trade dated Monday, October 3. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.82, for a total transaction of $55,125.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 636 shares of the company, valued at $27,869.52. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,512 shares of the company worth $817,901 during the last quarter. 3.20% of the shares are held by insiders of the company.
Hedge funds weigh on Progress software
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently increased or reduced their stake in PRGS. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new position in shares of Progress Software during the first quarter worth $85,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Progress Software stock in the first quarter worth about $108,000. Simplex Trading LLC increased its stake in Progress Software shares by 139.2% during the first quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the software maker valued at $112,000 after acquiring an additional 8,469 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Progress Software by 50.0% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,622 shares of the software maker worth $123,000 after buying 874 additional shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Progress Software by 75.1% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,525 shares of the software maker valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares last quarter. 98.90% of the shares are held by institutional investors.
About Progress Software
Progress Software Corporation develops, deploys and manages business applications. The company offers OpenEdge, a development software, which creates multilingual applications for secure deployment on various platforms and devices, as well as in the cloud; development tools including components for developing user interfaces for web, mobile, desktop, chat, and AR/VR applications, as well as automated application testing and reporting tools; Sitefinity, a web content management and customer analytics platform; Corticon, a business rules management system that provides applications with decision automation and process change, as well as decision-related analytics capabilities.
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