Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

PSN has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Parsons from $66.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Parsons from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down from $75.00) on shares of Parsons in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Parsons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a research report on Sunday, August 2nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Parsons in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

Parsons Stock Performance

Parsons stock opened at $50.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $45.69 and its 200-day moving average is $54.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.59. Parsons has a 12 month low of $36.26 and a 12 month high of $88.00.

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

Insider Transactions at Parsons

In other news, Director George Ball purchased 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $47.97 per share, with a total value of $959,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 170,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,173,272.51. This trade represents a 13.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSN. Swedbank AB grew its position in Parsons by 126.8% during the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,387,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,102 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Parsons by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,892,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,494,000 after purchasing an additional 179,463 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in Parsons in the 2nd quarter worth $89,697,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Parsons by 389.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,125,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,979,000 after purchasing an additional 895,690 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC raised its stake in Parsons by 1,248.6% during the 1st 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

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.