Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $64.60.

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progress Software from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Progress Software Price Performance

Shares of PRGS stock opened at $50.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Progress Software has a twelve month low of $49.02 and a twelve month high of $62.34.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 26th. The software maker reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.11. Progress Software had a net margin of 9.67% and a return on equity of 36.62%. The firm had revenue of $184.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Progress Software will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progress Software Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 40,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,287,909.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 186,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,624,478.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $430,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,126,810.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 40,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,287,909.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,624,478.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 81,248 shares of company stock valued at $4,612,902 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progress Software

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Progress Software by 116.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 61,121 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after buying an additional 32,871 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Progress Software by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,701,094 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,369,000 after buying an additional 33,289 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Progress Software by 197.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 132,827 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,213,000 after buying an additional 88,175 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Progress Software by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 387,313 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $20,365,000 after buying an additional 28,798 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Progress Software during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,473,000.

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.