EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on EPAM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on EPAM Systems in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $204.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of EPAM Systems from $237.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of EPAM Systems in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of EPAM Systems from $222.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on EPAM Systems from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.32.

EPAM Systems Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE EPAM opened at $195.03 on Friday. EPAM Systems has a 12-month low of $169.43 and a 12-month high of $317.50. The company has a quick ratio of 4.84, a current ratio of 4.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.29.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The information technology services provider reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.19. EPAM Systems had a return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 8.86%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EPAM Systems will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EPAM Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, August 8th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 100.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,178 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,604 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in EPAM Systems in the third quarter valued at $191,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in EPAM Systems by 573.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 801 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in EPAM Systems by 3.5% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,184 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 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.