Bank of Nova Scotia Raises Holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,344 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,704 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.32% of Progress Software worth $9,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progress Software by 893.5% in the fourth 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 holdings in Progress Software by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Progress Software by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Progress Software by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Progress Software by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,335 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ian Pitt sold 1,482 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total transaction of $83,881.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,895.80. This trade represents a 16.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Domenic Lococo sold 1,000 shares of Progress Software stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $56,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,000.72. The trade was a 18.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,185 shares of company stock worth $1,024,193 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Progress Software Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ PRGS opened at $56.84 on Friday. Progress Software Co. has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $70.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $55.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.85.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 31st. The software maker reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $238.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $235.64 million. Progress Software had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 41.56%. Progress Software’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Progress Software Co. will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PRGS. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Progress Software from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progress Software currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.17.

About Progress Software

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.