Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 77,411 Shares of Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its position in Parsons Co. (NYSE:PSN) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,475 shares of the company’s stock after selling 77,411 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 0.22% of Parsons worth $21,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Parsons by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,575,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,093,000 after purchasing an additional 59,545 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Parsons by 271.6% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,069,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,932,000 after buying an additional 1,512,812 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Parsons by 60.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,634,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,429,000 after acquiring an additional 616,707 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Parsons by 18.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,192,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,685,000 after acquiring an additional 183,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Parsons by 14.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 772,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,146,000 after acquiring an additional 95,040 shares during the period. 98.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on PSN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Parsons from $109.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James downgraded Parsons from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Parsons in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Parsons from $125.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen cut Parsons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.44.

Parsons Price Performance

Parsons stock opened at $59.37 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.21. Parsons Co. has a one year low of $54.56 and a one year high of $114.68. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 78.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

Parsons announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 24th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.