Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Stock Moved Up to Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Parsons (NYSE:PSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PSN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Parsons from $66.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Parsons from $72.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Parsons from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Parsons in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of Parsons in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.50.

Parsons Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:PSN opened at $50.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.04, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Parsons has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $88.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.16.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.09. Parsons had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Parsons’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Parsons will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director George Ball purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $47.97 per share, for a total transaction of $959,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 170,383 shares in the company, valued at $8,173,272.51. This represents a 13.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Parsons

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSN. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Parsons in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $89,697,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Parsons by 126.8% during the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,387,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,102 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Parsons by 389.3% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,125,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,979,000 after buying an additional 895,690 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC increased its holdings in Parsons by 1,248.6% during the first quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 505,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,363,000 after buying an additional 467,672 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Parsons by 10.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,892,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,494,000 after buying an additional 179,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

About Parsons

Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) is a technology-driven solutions provider serving government and commercial customers in the defense, intelligence, critical infrastructure and transportation markets. The company develops and integrates solutions for complex security, engineering and infrastructure challenges, combining software, systems engineering, cybersecurity, data analytics and program management capabilities.

Parsons operates through its Federal Solutions and Critical Infrastructure segments.