Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Progress Software experienced a significant trading volume, with 673,851 shares changing hands, indicating a 15% decrease from the previous session.
• Citigroup and Jefferies Financial Group both lowered their price targets for Progress Software, now set at $57.00 and $50.00 respectively, while DA Davidson maintained a target of $75.00.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $1.40, exceeding analyst estimates and reflecting a 35.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 673,851 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the previous session's volume of 789,655 shares.The stock last traded at $46.16 and had previously closed at $42.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Progress Software from $64.00 to $57.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progress Software from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Progress Software from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Progress Software Stock Up 4.8%

The company's fifty day moving average is $44.86 and its 200-day moving average is $53.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 30th. The software maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $237.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.23 million. Progress Software had a return on equity of 43.72% and a net margin of 6.63%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Progress Software Corporation will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In related news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 5,529 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.97, for a total value of $292,871.13. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 43,559 shares in the company, valued at $2,307,320.23. This represents a 11.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Krall bought 5,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $48.90 per share, for a total transaction of $250,612.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 100,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,894,401. The trade was a 5.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progress Software

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Progress Software by 67.3% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,781 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,795,000 after buying an additional 17,607 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 183.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 985 shares of the software maker's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 74,283 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 5,078 shares during the period. TT Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progress Software during the 2nd quarter worth $211,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Progress Software during the 2nd quarter worth $137,000.

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.

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