Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Boosts Holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,637 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Progress Software were worth $1,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Kendall Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Progress Software by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 13,955 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Progress Software by 9.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,761 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Progress Software by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,231 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Progress Software by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 25,303 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Progress Software by 6.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,622 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Shares of Progress Software stock opened at $50.34 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69, a PEG ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 0.94. Progress Software Co. has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $62.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The software maker reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $184.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $181.91 million. Progress Software had a net margin of 9.67% and a return on equity of 36.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Progress Software Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Progress Software Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Progress Software’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Krall sold 20,000 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,418,691. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Krall sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,418,691. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sundar Subramanian sold 5,799 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.58, for a total transaction of $304,911.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,399 shares in the company, valued at $809,679.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,745 shares of company stock valued at $5,376,231 in the last ninety days. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRGS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progress Software from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progress Software has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.60.

Progress Software 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.