Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the August 15th total of 2,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 871,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Parsons Stock Performance

PSN opened at $98.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 545.67, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $88.16 and a 200 day moving average of $82.46. Parsons has a fifty-two week low of $53.56 and a fifty-two week high of $98.63.

Parsons (NYSE:PSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.18. Parsons had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 0.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Parsons will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Parsons

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Parsons by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 382,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,011,000 after purchasing an additional 42,531 shares in the last quarter. Caas Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Parsons in the 4th quarter worth $3,075,000. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Parsons in the 1st quarter worth about $1,240,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Parsons during the 1st quarter valued at $853,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Parsons by 17,130.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 9,593 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PSN has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Parsons from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Parsons from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Parsons from $89.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Parsons from $68.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Parsons in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $94.67.

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.