Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR)

PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 47.26% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PAR. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PAR Technology in a report on Monday, December 29th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of PAR Technology in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. BTIG Research cut their price target on shares of PAR Technology from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of PAR Technology from $50.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.00.

PAR Technology Stock Performance

NYSE:PAR opened at $37.35 on Friday. PAR Technology has a 12 month low of $31.65 and a 12 month high of $77.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -17.45 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.88.

PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.03). PAR Technology had a negative return on equity of 2.56% and a negative net margin of 19.21%.The business had revenue of $119.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PAR Technology will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Voss Capital, Lp purchased 146,789 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $36.51 per share, with a total value of $5,359,266.39. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 3,564,652 shares in the company, valued at $130,145,444.52. This represents a 4.29% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bryan A. Menar sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $230,945.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 71,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,539,719.93. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 196,035 shares of company stock worth $7,103,730. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of PAR Technology by 66.2% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 437 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in PAR Technology by 68.6% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 563 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in PAR Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of PAR Technology in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PAR Technology in the third quarter valued at about $36,000.

About PAR Technology

PAR Technology Corp is a provider of enterprise software and hardware solutions for the hospitality, foodservice and retail industries. The company’s platforms are designed to streamline front- and back-of-house operations, covering point-of-sale (POS) systems, kitchen display and dispatch, inventory and labor management, and reporting tools. PAR’s integrated approach enables operators of full-service restaurants, quick-service chains, bars, hotels, casinos and retail outlets to centralize data and automate workflows across multiple sites.

Key offerings include PAR Brink, a cloud-native POS application that supports touchscreen, mobile and tablet devices; PAR Cloud Services, which delivers software updates, reporting and analytics through a subscription model; and hardware solutions such as payment terminals, handheld devices and self-service kiosks.