Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Parsons Corporation $PSN

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its Parsons stake by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 728,786 shares valued at about $45.0 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains mixed but generally positive: Parsons has a Moderate Buy consensus, with nine Buy ratings and six Hold ratings, even as several analysts lowered price targets.
• Parsons shares were down 3.8% to $49.29, near their 52-week low, while the company recently beat EPS estimates for the quarter despite revenue coming in slightly below expectations.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN - Free Report) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 728,786 shares of the company's stock after selling 115,077 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.68% of Parsons worth $45,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Parsons in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Parsons in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Parsons in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Parsons in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Parsons in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PSN shares. KeyCorp downgraded Parsons from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Parsons from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on Parsons from $78.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Parsons from $104.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Parsons in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.17.

Parsons Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE PSN opened at $49.29 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $56.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.81. Parsons Corporation has a 52-week low of $48.80 and a 52-week high of $89.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

About Parsons

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.

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