Leuthold Group LLC Acquires 1,560 Shares of Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Leuthold Group LLC boosted its stake in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,634 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,560 shares during the period. Leuthold Group LLC owned 0.10% of Progress Software worth $2,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Progress Software during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Progress Software during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Progress Software during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progress Software in the third quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Progress Software from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Progress Software from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. DA Davidson began coverage on Progress Software in a report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progress Software from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progress Software presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.60.

Insider Transactions at Progress Software

In other Progress Software news, Director David Krall sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,641 shares in the company, valued at $4,418,691. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Sundar Subramanian sold 584 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total value of $29,135.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $857,858.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Krall sold 20,000 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,418,691. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,858 shares of company stock valued at $1,496,063. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Progress Software Price Performance

Progress Software stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.20. 16,487 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 551,525. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Progress Software Co. has a 12-month low of $49.00 and a 12-month high of $62.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.56. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The software maker reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.11. Progress Software had a return on equity of 36.62% and a net margin of 9.67%. The company had revenue of $184.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Progress Software’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Progress Software Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Progress Software Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

Progress Software Company 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.