Newport Trust Company LLC Sells 1,213,045 Shares of Parsons Corporation $PSN

Key Points

• Newport Trust Company LLC sold 1,213,045 Parsons shares in the fourth quarter, trimming its stake by 2.4%. Even after the sale, it remained Parsons’ largest holder with 46.76% of the company worth about $3.08 billion.
• Parsons recently reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.79 per share, topping estimates by $0.09, though revenue of $1.49 billion came in slightly below forecasts and fell 4.1% year over year.
• Wall Street sentiment remains generally positive, with nine Buy ratings and six Hold ratings and an average price target of $78.17. Meanwhile, Parsons stock was trading around $51.84, well below that target and near its 52-week low.

Newport Trust Company LLC lowered its stake in Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,796,122 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,213,045 shares during the quarter. Parsons comprises approximately 7.4% of Newport Trust Company LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Newport Trust Company LLC owned 46.76% of Parsons worth $3,077,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Parsons by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,077,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,011,000 after purchasing an additional 130,694 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Parsons by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,331,921 shares of the company's stock valued at $193,363,000 after purchasing an additional 217,342 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Parsons by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,682,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $139,511,000 after purchasing an additional 45,922 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Parsons by 151.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,061,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,173,000 after purchasing an additional 639,481 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Parsons by 654.7% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,052,541 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,047,000 after purchasing an additional 913,079 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PSN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on Parsons from $78.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Parsons in a research note on Monday, April 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on Parsons from $104.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Parsons from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Parsons in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.17.

Parsons Stock Up 0.4%

PSN stock opened at $51.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.25 and a 200-day moving average of $64.49. Parsons Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $48.23 and a fifty-two week high of $89.50.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. Parsons had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 3.62%.Parsons's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Parsons Corporation will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Parsons

In other news, Director Mark Keith Holdsworth acquired 10,000 shares of Parsons stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.27 per share, with a total value of $512,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,046,595.86. This represents a 33.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director George L. Ball acquired 10,000 shares of Parsons stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.00 per share, with a total value of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 150,383 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,519,150. This trade represents a 7.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders bought 32,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,325 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company's stock.

Parsons Profile

Parsons Corporation NYSE: PSN is a technology-driven engineering, construction, technical and professional services firm. The company delivers end-to-end solutions that span feasibility studies, design and engineering, construction management, system integration and ongoing operations support. Parsons serves both government and commercial clients and focuses on critical infrastructure, defense, security, intelligence and environmental programs.

Core services include program and construction management for transportation systems, water and environmental infrastructure, cybersecurity and advanced systems integration.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.