Squarepoint Ops LLC Takes $606,000 Position in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,294 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PRGS. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Progress Software by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,335 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in Progress Software by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 14,843 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $967,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Progress Software by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 104,572 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,813,000 after buying an additional 4,192 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Progress Software by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 80,750 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,261,000 after buying an additional 3,836 shares during the period.

Progress Software Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Progress Software stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Thursday, hitting $63.59. 256,199 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 564,092. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. Progress Software Co. has a 52-week low of $48.00 and a 52-week high of $70.56. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $59.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.47.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 31st. The software maker reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.27. Progress Software had a return on equity of 41.56% and a net margin of 9.08%. The firm had revenue of $238.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Progress Software Co. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PRGS. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Progress Software from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progress Software currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Yufan Stephanie Wang sold 1,428 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total transaction of $83,209.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ian Pitt sold 703 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.29, for a total value of $39,571.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $468,163.93. This represents a 7.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

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.