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

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.50.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th.

Progress Software Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ PRGS opened at $56.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a PEG ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.12. Progress Software has a one year low of $48.00 and a one year high of $62.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $54.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.13.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The software maker reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. Progress Software had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 36.88%. The business had revenue of $175.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.60 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Progress Software will post 3.91 EPS for the current year.

Progress Software Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 3,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total value of $190,233.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,895,871. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Loren Jarrett sold 9,961 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total value of $557,616.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,467.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Anthony Folger sold 3,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total value of $190,233.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,895,871. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,530 shares of company stock valued at $955,238 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progress Software

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Progress Software by 79.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 708,324 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $37,761,000 after buying an additional 312,537 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progress Software during the fourth quarter worth about $15,701,000. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Progress Software by 144.2% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 474,447 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,743,000 after acquiring an additional 280,195 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Progress Software by 530.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 263,062 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,274,000 after acquiring an additional 221,336 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 10.9% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,966,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $106,713,000 after purchasing an additional 192,899 shares during the last quarter.

About Progress Software

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.