EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) Price Target Raised to $215.00

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $201.00 to $215.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of EPAM Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. TD Cowen raised EPAM Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded EPAM Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cowen raised EPAM Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of EPAM Systems in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.19.

EPAM Systems Stock Up 5.6%

EPAM stock opened at $177.46 on Friday. EPAM Systems has a 12 month low of $138.15 and a 12 month high of $269.00. The company has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $156.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.17 and a quick ratio of 3.17.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.16. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. EPAM Systems’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that EPAM Systems will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

EPAM Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 12.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other EPAM Systems news, SVP Sergey Yezhkov sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.27, for a total transaction of $227,057.97. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 146 shares in the company, valued at $21,939.42. This represents a 91.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in EPAM Systems by 37.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,569,498 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $602,674,000 after acquiring an additional 965,089 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 98.8% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,628,304 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $274,923,000 after acquiring an additional 809,423 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of EPAM Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $137,671,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in EPAM Systems by 2,332.9% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 729,877 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $123,232,000 after purchasing an additional 699,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP bought a new position in EPAM Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $84,456,000. 91.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About EPAM Systems

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.