Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) Shares Bought by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS - Free Report) by 178.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,842 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 65,202 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.23% of Progress Software worth $6,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 45,918.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,143,110 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $74,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140,626 shares in the last quarter. Natixis lifted its stake in Progress Software by 287.1% in the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 518,700 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $33,793,000 after buying an additional 384,700 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Progress Software in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,432,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Progress Software by 468.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 186,297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,139,000 after buying an additional 153,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Progress Software during the fourth quarter worth $9,699,000.

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In related news, insider Yufan Stephanie Wang sold 1,428 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were 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 is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ian Pitt sold 703 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.29, for a total value of $39,571.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,317 shares in the company, valued at $468,163.93. This trade represents a 7.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progress Software Trading Down 0.2%

PRGS traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 561,952. Progress Software Co. has a 52-week low of $48.00 and a 52-week high of $70.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. The firm has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.25, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PRGS. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progress Software from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.33.

Progress Software Profile

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.