Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.175 per share by the software maker on Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th.

Progress Software has increased its dividend by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Progress Software has a dividend payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Progress Software to earn $4.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.7%.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Progress Software stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.04. 28,589 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 475,823. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 0.93. Progress Software has a one year low of $48.00 and a one year high of $62.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.11.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The software maker reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $175.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.60 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Progress Software will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathryn Kulikoski sold 2,918 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $157,834.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,040.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Kathryn Kulikoski sold 2,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $157,834.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,040.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $557,616.78. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,406 shares in the company, valued at $750,467.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,530 shares of company stock valued at $955,238. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRGS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com cut Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Progress Software from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

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.