Progress Software Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 18,072 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 9,996% compared to the average daily volume of 179 put options.

Progress Software Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRGS opened at $54.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.88. Progress Software has a 12 month low of $48.00 and a 12 month high of $70.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Progress Software from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ian Pitt sold 1,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total value of $83,881.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $430,895.80. This trade represents a 16.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Domenic Lococo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 18.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,482 shares of company stock worth $984,621. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progress Software

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRGS. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Progress Software by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,301 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Progress Software by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,446 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Progress Software by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 95,908 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,248,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Progress Software by 149.5% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 494 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progress Software by 19.3% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period.

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.