Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its position in Progress Software Co. (NASDAQ:PRGS) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,005 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 3,632 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Progress Software worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progress Software by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,629,836 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $300,127,000 after purchasing an additional 95,594 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Progress Software by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,701,094 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,369,000 after purchasing an additional 33,289 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Progress Software by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,359,246 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $73,807,000 after purchasing an additional 23,097 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progress Software by 0.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,032,624 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,049,000 after acquiring an additional 6,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progress Software by 79.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 708,324 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,761,000 after acquiring an additional 312,537 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sundar Subramanian sold 584 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total transaction of $29,135.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $857,858.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sundar Subramanian sold 584 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total transaction of $29,135.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $857,858.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Yufan Stephanie Wang sold 779 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total value of $39,471.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,224 shares of company stock valued at $2,569,513 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on PRGS shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on Progress Software from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Progress Software in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Progress Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Progress Software from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Progress Software in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.29.

Progress Software Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRGS traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $56.17. 49,158 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 507,988. Progress Software Co. has a twelve month low of $48.00 and a twelve month high of $62.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $52.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.06.

Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 25th. The software maker reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.13. Progress Software had a return on equity of 36.88% and a net margin of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $175.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.60 million. On average, analysts expect that Progress Software Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progress Software Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Progress Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.68%.

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.