Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) Earns “Buy” Rating from DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $65.00 target price on the software maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Progress Software from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progress Software from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $63.14.

Progress Software Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of PRGS stock opened at $54.26 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.00. Progress Software has a 1-year low of $48.00 and a 1-year high of $62.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 26th. The software maker reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.11. Progress Software had a return on equity of 36.88% and a net margin of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $184.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Progress Software’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Progress Software will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progress Software Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Progress Software’s payout ratio is currently 42.68%.

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In related news, EVP John Ainsworth sold 30,631 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.03, for a total transaction of $1,563,099.93. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,002 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,062.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP John Ainsworth sold 30,631 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.03, for a total transaction of $1,563,099.93. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,002 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,062.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Anthony Folger sold 3,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total value of $190,233.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,542 shares in the company, valued at $1,895,871. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,761 shares of company stock valued at $2,841,941 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progress Software

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Progress Software during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progress Software in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progress Software by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progress Software in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progress Software by 993.5% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,176 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,977 shares in 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.