Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $84.46, but opened at $67.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Parsons shares last traded at $67.1860, with a volume of 1,918,002 shares trading hands.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Parsons from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Parsons from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Parsons from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Parsons from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, William Blair raised Parsons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.91.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Parsons

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Parsons during the 1st quarter worth about $136,183,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Parsons by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,889,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,594,000 after acquiring an additional 793,807 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Parsons by 151.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,061,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,173,000 after acquiring an additional 639,481 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Parsons during the second quarter worth approximately $45,653,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Parsons in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,131,000. 98.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Parsons Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.64. The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.12. Parsons had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 3.69%.The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Parsons Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Parsons

Parsons Corporation provides integrated solutions and services in the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets in North America, the Middle East, and internationally. The company operates through Federal Solutions and Critical Infrastructure segments. The Federal Solutions segment provides critical technologies, such as cybersecurity; missile defense; intelligence; space launch and ground systems; space and weapon system resiliency; geospatial intelligence; signals intelligence; environmental remediation; border security, critical infrastructure protection; counter unmanned air systems; biometrics and bio surveillance solutions to U.S.