Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 2,325 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 304% compared to the typical daily volume of 575 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PRGS shares. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Progress Software from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut Progress Software from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Progress Software from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progress Software presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.33.

Progress Software Price Performance

Shares of Progress Software stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $59.18. 272,317 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 557,059. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Progress Software has a 52-week low of $48.00 and a 52-week high of $70.56.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 31st. The software maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $238.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.64 million. Progress Software had a return on equity of 41.56% and a net margin of 9.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Progress Software will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Progress Software

In related news, insider Ian Pitt sold 1,482 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total transaction of $83,881.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,895.80. The trade was a 16.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Anthony Folger sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $844,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,564 shares in the company, valued at $2,508,953.20. The trade was a 25.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,613 shares of company stock worth $1,107,403 over the last 90 days. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progress Software by 149.5% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 494 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Progress Software during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 893.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 765 shares of the software maker's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 688 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Progress Software by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the software maker's stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Progress Software by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the software maker's stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 394 shares in the last quarter.

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.