Baird R W Upgrades Parsons (NYSE:PSN) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Baird R W upgraded Parsons (NYSE: PSN) from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating positive sentiment around the stock's potential performance.
• The average target price for Parsons has been set at $88.70, with several analysts adjusting their price targets and ratings, showing a majority positive outlook.
• Parsons reported earnings per share of $0.78 for the last quarter, which exceeded analysts' expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 5.1%.

Baird R W upgraded shares of Parsons (NYSE:PSN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

PSN has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Parsons from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Parsons from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Parsons from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Parsons from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Parsons from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.70.

Parsons Trading Up 1.6%

Parsons stock traded up $1.24 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $79.69. 332,052 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,410,078. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. Parsons has a fifty-two week low of $54.56 and a fifty-two week high of $114.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.57, a PEG ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's 50 day moving average is $72.78 and its 200-day moving average is $67.90.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Parsons in the first quarter valued at approximately $136,183,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Parsons by 72.5% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,889,281 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,594,000 after acquiring an additional 793,807 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Parsons in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,318,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Parsons by 53.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,084,288 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,201,000 after acquiring an additional 379,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Parsons by 8.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,952,299 shares of the company's stock valued at $293,226,000 after acquiring an additional 376,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.02% of the company's stock.

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.