Progress Software Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 6,757 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 316% compared to the average daily volume of 1,625 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRGS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Progress Software from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Progress Software from $64.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progress Software from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.

Progress Software Trading Up 6.5%

NASDAQ:PRGS traded up $2.77 on Tuesday, reaching $45.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,577,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 795,157. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.68. Progress Software has a 12-month low of $40.29 and a 12-month high of $70.56.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $237.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.23 million. Progress Software had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 43.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Progress Software will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Progress Software

In related news, Director David Krall bought 5,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $48.90 per share, for a total transaction of $250,612.50. Following the acquisition, the director owned 100,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,401. This represents a 5.40% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rainer Gawlick purchased 1,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $43.48 per share, for a total transaction of $74,350.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 55,544 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,053.12. This represents a 3.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progress Software

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Progress Software by 67.3% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,781 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,795,000 after acquiring an additional 17,607 shares during 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 increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. TT Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Progress Software in the second quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Progress Software in the second 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.