Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $48.58 and last traded at $49.7610, with a volume of 108825 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.18.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Parsons in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on Parsons from $78.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. KeyCorp lowered Parsons from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research raised Parsons from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Parsons from $104.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Parsons presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.17.

Parsons Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.81.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Parsons had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 3.62%.Parsons’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Parsons Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Parsons

In other news, CEO Carey A. Smith acquired 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $49.97 per share, for a total transaction of $624,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,751,538.72. This represents a 2.22% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Parsons

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Parsons by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,077,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,011,000 after buying an additional 130,694 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Parsons by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,477,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,088,000 after buying an additional 145,238 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Parsons by 126.8% during the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,387,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,102 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Parsons by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,892,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,494,000 after purchasing an additional 179,463 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Parsons by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,484,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,714,000 after purchasing an additional 213,312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

About Parsons

Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) is a technology-driven engineering, construction, technical and professional services firm. The company delivers end-to-end solutions that span feasibility studies, design and engineering, construction management, system integration and ongoing operations support. Parsons serves both government and commercial clients and focuses on critical infrastructure, defense, security, intelligence and environmental programs.

Core services include program and construction management for transportation systems, water and environmental infrastructure, cybersecurity and advanced systems integration.