Parsons (NYSE:PSN) Trading Down 6% After Analyst Downgrade

Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN)’s share price was down 6% during trading on Monday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $93.00 to $81.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Parsons traded as low as $61.85 and last traded at $62.68. Approximately 693,745 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 1,302,437 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.65.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Parsons from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. William Blair raised shares of Parsons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Parsons from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Parsons in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Parsons in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.18.

Institutional Trading of Parsons

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PSN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Parsons by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,077,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,011,000 after buying an additional 130,694 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Parsons by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,331,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,363,000 after acquiring an additional 217,342 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Parsons during the 1st quarter valued at $136,183,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Parsons by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,889,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,594,000 after purchasing an additional 793,807 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Parsons by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,682,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,511,000 after purchasing an additional 45,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

Parsons Stock Down 6.6%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.76. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Parsons had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 3.69%.The company’s revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Parsons Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Parsons Company Profile

Parsons Corporation provides integrated solutions and services in the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets in North America, the Middle East, and internationally. The company operates through Federal Solutions and Critical Infrastructure segments. The Federal Solutions segment provides critical technologies, such as cybersecurity; missile defense; intelligence; space launch and ground systems; space and weapon system resiliency; geospatial intelligence; signals intelligence; environmental remediation; border security, critical infrastructure protection; counter unmanned air systems; biometrics and bio surveillance solutions to U.S.