Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Parsons Corporation $PSN

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,952,299 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 376,764 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.63% of Parsons worth $293,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Parsons by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 8,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Parsons by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Parsons in the fourth quarter valued at about $494,000. PEAK6 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Parsons in the fourth quarter valued at about $298,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Parsons by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 197,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,221,000 after purchasing an additional 39,672 shares during the period. 98.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Parsons Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of PSN opened at $79.54 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Parsons Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.56 and a 12 month high of $114.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $73.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.89. The firm has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.58.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Parsons had a return on equity of 12.36% and a net margin of 3.70%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. Parsons’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Parsons Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PSN. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up from $82.00) on shares of Parsons in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Parsons in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised Parsons from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised Parsons from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Parsons from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.70.

Parsons Profile

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.