Traders Buy High Volume of Progress Software Call Options (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 2,325 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 304% compared to the average volume of 575 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PRGS. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.33.

Insider Transactions at Progress Software

In other Progress Software news, CAO Domenic Lococo sold 1,000 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $56,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,000.72. This trade represents a 18.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Anthony Folger sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $844,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,508,953.20. The trade was a 25.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,185 shares of company stock valued at $1,024,193. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRGS. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 45,918.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,143,110 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $74,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140,626 shares in the last quarter. Natixis increased its holdings in Progress Software by 287.1% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 518,700 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,793,000 after buying an additional 384,700 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Progress Software in the fourth quarter worth approximately $15,432,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Progress Software by 468.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 186,297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,139,000 after buying an additional 153,517 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progress Software during the 4th quarter valued at $9,699,000.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PRGS opened at $59.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Progress Software has a one year low of $48.00 and a one year high of $70.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 31st. The software maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.27. Progress Software had a return on equity of 41.56% and a net margin of 9.08%. The business had revenue of $238.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. Progress Software’s revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Progress Software will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Progress Software Company Profile

Progress Software Corporation develops, deploys, and manages business applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers OpenEdge, an application development platform for running business-critical applications; Chef, a DevOps/DevSecOps automation software; Developer Tools that consists of software development tooling collection, including .NET and JavaScript UI components for web, desktop and mobile applications, reporting and report management tools, and automated testing and mocking tools; Kemp LoadMaster, an application delivery and security product offering cloud-native, and virtual and hardware load balancers; and Sitefinity, a digital experience platform foundation delivering intelligent and ROI-driving tools for marketers.