Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $68.00 target price on the software maker’s stock.

PRGS has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. DA Davidson restated a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com lowered Progress Software from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $63.50.

Progress Software Trading Up 0.1 %

Progress Software stock opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. Progress Software has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $60.33. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.31.

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 return on equity of 36.88% and a net margin of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $175.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Progress Software will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progress Software Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.22%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Loren Jarrett sold 9,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total transaction of $557,616.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,467.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ian Pitt sold 584 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $32,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,185. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Loren Jarrett sold 9,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $750,467.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 13,763 shares of company stock valued at $765,004. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progress Software

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Progress Software by 79.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progress Software during the 4th quarter worth about $15,701,000. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 144.2% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 474,447 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,743,000 after acquiring an additional 280,195 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased 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 raised its position in Progress Software by 10.9% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,966,696 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $106,713,000 after purchasing an additional 192,899 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.