Perficient (NASDAQ:PRFT) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Perficient, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRFT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $76.00. The stock had previously closed at $48.11, but opened at $73.70. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Perficient shares last traded at $73.43, with a volume of 4,164,401 shares traded.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PRFT. Guggenheim started coverage on Perficient in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Perficient in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Alliance Global Partners raised Perficient from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Perficient in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Perficient from $71.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Perficient has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin Thomas Sheen sold 684 shares of Perficient stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total transaction of $47,223.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 26,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,831,838.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kevin Thomas Sheen sold 684 shares of Perficient stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.04, for a total value of $47,223.36. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 26,533 shares in the company, valued at $1,831,838.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas J. Hogan sold 8,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.26, for a total transaction of $591,955.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 193,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,001,627.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,149 shares of company stock valued at $885,619. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Perficient

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRFT. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Perficient by 1.8% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 9,919 shares of the digital transformation consultancy’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Perficient by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 5,412 shares of the digital transformation consultancy’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Perficient by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,245 shares of the digital transformation consultancy’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Perficient by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 527 shares of the digital transformation consultancy’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its position in shares of Perficient by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,682 shares of the digital transformation consultancy’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.00% of the company’s stock.

Perficient Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.15, a quick ratio of 4.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Perficient (NASDAQ:PRFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The digital transformation consultancy reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $220.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $223.79 million. Perficient had a net margin of 10.91% and a return on equity of 23.39%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Perficient, Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

About Perficient

Perficient, Inc provides digital consultancy services and solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers strategy and transformation solutions in digital strategy, technology strategy, business velocity and growth, and organizational change management; and data and intelligence solutions in the areas of analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data, business intelligence, and custom product portfolios.