Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Parsons (NYSE:PSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Parsons from $79.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Parsons from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Parsons in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Parsons in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Parsons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a report on Sunday, August 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.50.

Parsons Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of PSN stock opened at $52.83 on Friday. Parsons has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $88.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.08. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.72.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Parsons had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 2.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Research analysts predict that Parsons will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Parsons

In related news, Director George Ball purchased 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $47.97 per share, for a total transaction of $959,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 170,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,173,272.51. This trade represents a 13.30% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Parsons

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSN. Swedbank AB increased its position in Parsons by 126.8% during the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,387,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,102 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Parsons by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,892,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,494,000 after purchasing an additional 179,463 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Parsons in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $89,697,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Parsons by 389.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,125,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,979,000 after purchasing an additional 895,690 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Parsons by 1,248.6% during the first quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 505,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,363,000 after purchasing an additional 467,672 shares in the last quarter. 98.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Parsons Company Profile

Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) is a technology-driven solutions provider serving government and commercial customers in the defense, intelligence, critical infrastructure and transportation markets. The company develops and integrates solutions for complex security, engineering and infrastructure challenges, combining software, systems engineering, cybersecurity, data analytics and program management capabilities.

Parsons operates through its Federal Solutions and Critical Infrastructure segments.