William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes $166.91 Million Position in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 713,824 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $166,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.26% of EPAM Systems at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EPAM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 643.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 417,526 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $83,100,000 after buying an additional 361,363 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 664,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $155,323,000 after purchasing an additional 217,960 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 515,351 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $102,570,000 after purchasing an additional 160,989 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EPAM Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,916,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 199.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 173,721 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $34,576,000 after purchasing an additional 115,720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EPAM Systems news, CFO Jason D. Peterson sold 1,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total transaction of $277,046.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,009,174. This trade represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

EPAM Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EPAM opened at $182.28 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $231.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $222.49. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.43 and a 12 month high of $301.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 4.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.61.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.75 by ($0.52). EPAM Systems had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EPAM shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of EPAM Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of EPAM Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of EPAM Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $305.00 to $288.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.33.

EPAM Systems Company Profile

EPAM Systems, Inc provides digital platform engineering and software development services worldwide. The company offers engineering services, including requirements analysis and platform selection, customization, cross-platform migration, implementation, and integration; infrastructure management services, such as software development, testing, performance tuning, deployment, maintenance, and support services.