Meritage Portfolio Management Raises Holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its position in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,432 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Progress Software were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Progress Software by 54.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 10,444 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Progress Software during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $521,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Progress Software by 207.6% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 79,895 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 53,919 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Progress Software by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 54,613 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Progress Software by 18.4% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 274,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $14,438,000 after buying an additional 42,750 shares in the last quarter.

Progress Software Stock Down 0.6 %

PRGS traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.38. 107,124 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,687. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.67. 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 Co. has a one year low of $49.00 and a one year high of $62.34.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last released its quarterly 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. Progress Software had a net margin of 9.67% and a return on equity of 36.62%. The company had revenue of $184.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Progress Software Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progress Software Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on PRGS. 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 report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progress Software from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.60.

Insider Activity

In other Progress Software news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total transaction of $430,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,126,810.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Anthony Folger sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $430,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,126,810.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ian Pitt sold 3,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.40, for a total value of $181,843.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,785.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,745 shares of company stock worth $5,376,231. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

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.