Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,315 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 54 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in EPAM Systems were worth $1,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its position in EPAM Systems by 48.8% during the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 664,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $155,323,000 after buying an additional 217,960 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in EPAM Systems by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 522,144 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $122,088,000 after buying an additional 6,793 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 643.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 417,526 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $83,100,000 after purchasing an additional 361,363 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 346,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $80,949,000 after purchasing an additional 33,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 3.0% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 308,498 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $61,400,000 after purchasing an additional 8,959 shares in the last quarter. 91.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EPAM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of EPAM Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of EPAM Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $305.00 to $288.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of EPAM Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.44.

EPAM Systems Stock Up 1.0 %

EPAM stock opened at $199.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 4.56. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.43 and a 1-year high of $317.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $235.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.74. The firm has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.61.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.75 by ($0.52). EPAM Systems had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Research analysts predict that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at EPAM Systems

In other news, SVP Viktar Dvorkin sold 6,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.53, for a total transaction of $1,733,629.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,334,890. This represents a 34.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason D. Peterson sold 1,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total transaction of $277,046.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,009,174. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,300 shares of company stock worth $2,129,924 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

EPAM Systems Profile

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.