Itau BBA Securities Upgrades EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) to Outperform

Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Itau BBA Securities currently has $269.00 price target on the information technology services provider's stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $222.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on EPAM Systems from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on EPAM Systems from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered EPAM Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of EPAM Systems from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $261.50.

EPAM Systems Stock Performance

EPAM traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $233.45. 773,860 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 620,813. The stock has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.84 and a quick ratio of 4.84. EPAM Systems has a 12 month low of $169.43 and a 12 month high of $317.50.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The information technology services provider reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 8.86% and a return on equity of 14.31%. EPAM Systems's revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that EPAM Systems will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

EPAM Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 8th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of EPAM Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EPAM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in EPAM Systems by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,865,123 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,895,872,000 after buying an additional 39,531 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 14,325.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 657,070 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $123,601,000 after purchasing an additional 652,515 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 80.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 595,486 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $112,017,000 after purchasing an additional 264,570 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in EPAM Systems by 22.6% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 512,353 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $139,516,000 after purchasing an additional 94,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in EPAM Systems during the second quarter worth $84,850,000. 91.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About EPAM Systems

EPAM Systems, Inc provides digital platform engineering and software development services worldwide. The company offers engineering services, including requirements analysis and platform selection, customization, cross-platform migration, implementation, and integration; infrastructure management services, such as software development, testing, performance tuning, deployment, maintenance, and support services.