Traders Buy Large Volume of Progress Software Put Options (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 18,072 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 9,996% compared to the average volume of 179 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on Progress Software from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.43.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Progress Software stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.61. The company had a trading volume of 654,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 522,327. Progress Software has a 52 week low of $48.00 and a 52 week high of $70.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progress Software news, CAO Domenic Lococo sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $56,240.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,000.72. This trade represents a 18.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ian Pitt sold 1,482 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total value of $83,881.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,895.80. This represents a 16.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,482 shares of company stock worth $984,621 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progress Software

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Progress Software in the 4th quarter worth $7,966,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Progress Software by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 36,562 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,382,000 after buying an additional 6,640 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Progress Software in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Progress Software by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 142,639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $9,293,000 after buying an additional 21,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Progress Software by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 109,072 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,106,000 after buying an additional 9,789 shares in the last quarter.

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.