Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Stock Holdings in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,983 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in EPAM Systems were worth $2,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC raised its stake in EPAM Systems by 48.8% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 664,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $155,323,000 after buying an additional 217,960 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in EPAM Systems by 45.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 515,351 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $102,570,000 after buying an additional 160,989 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in EPAM Systems by 643.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 417,526 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $83,100,000 after buying an additional 361,363 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 346,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $80,949,000 after purchasing an additional 33,715 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 3.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 308,498 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $61,400,000 after purchasing an additional 8,959 shares during the period. 91.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EPAM shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of EPAM Systems in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on EPAM Systems from $305.00 to $288.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered EPAM Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on EPAM Systems from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on EPAM Systems from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EPAM Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at EPAM Systems

In other news, SVP Viktar Dvorkin sold 6,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.53, for a total value of $1,733,629.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,334,890. This trade represents a 34.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jason D. Peterson sold 464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total value of $119,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,263,604. This trade represents a 1.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,300 shares of company stock valued at $2,129,924. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

EPAM Systems Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of EPAM opened at $213.10 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.43 and a 12 month high of $317.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $241.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.60. The firm has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.51.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.75 by ($0.52). EPAM Systems had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Analysts predict that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EPAM Systems Company Profile

EPAM Systems, Inc provides digital platform engineering and software development services worldwide. The company offers engineering services, including requirements analysis and platform selection, customization, cross-platform migration, implementation, and integration; infrastructure management services, such as software development, testing, performance tuning, deployment, maintenance, and support services.