First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stock Position in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,908 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Progress Software were worth $6,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PRGS. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 worth $74,474,000 after buying an additional 1,140,626 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Progress Software in the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,432,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progress Software in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,699,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Progress Software by 228.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 208,450 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,581,000 after purchasing an additional 144,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Progress Software by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 358,449 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $23,353,000 after purchasing an additional 128,249 shares in the last quarter.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRGS opened at $59.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. Progress Software Co. has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $70.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In other Progress Software news, insider Yufan Stephanie Wang sold 1,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total transaction of $83,209.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Anthony Folger sold 15,000 shares of Progress Software 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,508,953.20. This trade represents a 25.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,613 shares of company stock worth $1,107,403 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Progress Software from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.33.

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.