Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 3,437 Shares of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,435 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,437 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in EPAM Systems were worth $7,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EPAM. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in EPAM Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $166,906,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of EPAM Systems by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 664,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $155,323,000 after purchasing an additional 217,960 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in EPAM Systems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 522,144 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $122,088,000 after buying an additional 6,793 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in EPAM Systems in the fourth quarter worth $86,699,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in EPAM Systems by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 346,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $80,949,000 after buying an additional 33,715 shares during the period. 91.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EPAM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of EPAM Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of EPAM Systems from $305.00 to $288.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of EPAM Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on EPAM Systems from $290.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on EPAM Systems from $230.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $262.47.

EPAM Systems Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of EPAM Systems stock opened at $168.72 on Friday. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.00 and a 1 year high of $277.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 4.56. The stock has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $220.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.62.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.75 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.60%. As a group, research analysts expect that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at EPAM Systems

In related news, CFO Jason D. Peterson sold 1,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total transaction of $277,046.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,009,174. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

EPAM Systems Company Profile

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.