Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 85,883 Shares of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) by 33.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 342,734 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 85,883 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in EPAM Systems were worth $64,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EPAM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of EPAM Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $10,565,000. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EPAM Systems in the second quarter worth $412,000. Meridian Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 164.1% in the second quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 21,880 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,116,000 after buying an additional 13,594 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 5,226.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 88,476 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $16,643,000 after purchasing an additional 86,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of EPAM Systems by 6.1% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 11,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. 91.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on EPAM. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of EPAM Systems in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of EPAM Systems from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of EPAM Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $204.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of EPAM Systems from $222.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of EPAM Systems from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, EPAM Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.32.

EPAM Systems Price Performance

EPAM Systems stock opened at $199.46 on Friday. EPAM Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.43 and a 12-month high of $317.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $202.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.84 and a quick ratio of 4.84.

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The information technology services provider reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.19. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 8.86% and a return on equity of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 8.07 earnings per share for the current year.

EPAM Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, August 8th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About EPAM Systems

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.