Earnest Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Parsons Corporation $PSN

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in Parsons Corporation by 2.1%, owning 2,022,503 shares worth $119,752,000 after selling 42,472 shares in the first quarter.
• Parsons has received mixed analyst ratings, with two analysts issuing a "Strong Buy" rating and a consensus price target of $88.70.
• The company reported $0.78 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.74, although revenue decreased by 5.1% year-over-year.

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,022,503 shares of the company's stock after selling 42,472 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 1.89% of Parsons worth $119,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in Parsons during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Parsons during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Parsons by 238.7% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 552 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Parsons by 1,803.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 552 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Parsons by 63.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 610 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PSN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Parsons from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up previously from $82.00) on shares of Parsons in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Parsons in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Bank of America decreased their price target on Parsons from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Parsons from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $88.70.

Parsons Stock Performance

Shares of Parsons stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $80.21. 848,583 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 997,415. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Parsons Corporation has a 1 year low of $54.56 and a 1 year high of $114.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.81, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.10.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Parsons had a return on equity of 12.36% and a net margin of 3.70%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Parsons Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

About Parsons

Parsons Corporation provides integrated solutions and services in the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets in North America, the Middle East, and internationally. The company operates through Federal Solutions and Critical Infrastructure segments. The Federal Solutions segment provides critical technologies, such as cybersecurity; missile defense; intelligence; space launch and ground systems; space and weapon system resiliency; geospatial intelligence; signals intelligence; environmental remediation; border security, critical infrastructure protection; counter unmanned air systems; biometrics and bio surveillance solutions to U.S.