Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) Upgraded to Strong-Buy by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

PRGS has been the subject of several other reports. DA Davidson started 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 for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $64.60.

Progress Software Price Performance

Progress Software stock opened at $50.99 on Wednesday. Progress Software has a 1 year low of $49.02 and a 1 year high of $62.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.83. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The software maker reported $1.25 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Progress Software’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Progress Software will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Progress Software Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.45%.

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In related news, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 40,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 186,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,624,478.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Yogesh K. Gupta sold 40,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 186,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,624,478.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Domenic Lococo sold 4,503 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.00, for a total transaction of $256,671.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,900 shares in the company, valued at $165,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 81,248 shares of company stock valued at $4,612,902 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progress Software

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,534,242 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $300,509,000 after purchasing an additional 37,487 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,296 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,243 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progress Software during the fourth quarter worth $515,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 217,415 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 90,407 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,909,000 after purchasing an additional 36,807 shares during the period.

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.