Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.44.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PSN. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Parsons from $109.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Parsons from $122.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Parsons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James downgraded shares of Parsons from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Parsons from $125.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Parsons Price Performance

Parsons stock opened at $59.30 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.87. Parsons has a 12 month low of $54.56 and a 12 month high of $114.68. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.02, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Parsons declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Parsons

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in Parsons by 271.6% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,069,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512,812 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Parsons in the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,417,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Parsons in the fourth quarter worth $59,447,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Parsons by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,634,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,429,000 after buying an additional 616,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Parsons during the 4th quarter valued at $40,318,000. Institutional investors own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

About Parsons

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.