Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) Shares Purchased by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 29.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,640 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Progress Software were worth $87,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 79.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 708,324 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $37,761,000 after acquiring an additional 312,537 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progress Software during the 4th quarter worth about $15,701,000. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 144.2% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 474,447 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,743,000 after acquiring an additional 280,195 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,629,836 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $300,127,000 after acquiring an additional 95,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of Progress Software during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,692,000.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Shares of Progress Software stock opened at $57.41 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 0.93. Progress Software Co. has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $62.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The software maker reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $175.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.60 million. Progress Software had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 36.88%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Progress Software Co. will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Progress Software Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progress Software

In other Progress Software news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 3,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total value of $190,233.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,895,871. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Progress Software news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 3,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total value of $190,233.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,895,871. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathryn Kulikoski sold 2,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $157,834.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,142 shares in the company, valued at $224,040.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,530 shares of company stock valued at $955,238. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PRGS. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com cut Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Progress Software from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.50.

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.