PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE:PAR) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $25.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. PAR Technology traded as low as $11.83 and last traded at $12.2210, with a volume of 853943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.68.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on PAR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PAR Technology in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Stephens cut their target price on PAR Technology from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark cut their target price on PAR Technology from $42.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on PAR Technology from $40.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of PAR Technology in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.20.

Insider Activity at PAR Technology

In other news, CFO Bryan A. Menar sold 6,588 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.49, for a total transaction of $115,224.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 64,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,978.57. This represents a 9.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cathy A. King sold 6,109 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.49, for a total transaction of $106,846.41. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,143 shares in the company, valued at $1,016,921.07. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 526,202 shares of company stock worth $14,669,269 and sold 90,689 shares worth $1,600,226. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PAR Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PAR. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PAR Technology by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,916,459 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $214,650,000 after buying an additional 201,782 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PAR Technology by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,304,052 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $119,871,000 after buying an additional 12,250 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in PAR Technology by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,237,004 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $128,121,000 after purchasing an additional 476,839 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its holdings in PAR Technology by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,056,308 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $74,603,000 after purchasing an additional 323,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in PAR Technology by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,751,387 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $121,494,000 after purchasing an additional 137,434 shares in the last quarter.

PAR Technology Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $505.44 million, a P/E ratio of -5.90 and a beta of 1.48.

PAR Technology (NYSE:PAR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The software maker reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.16. PAR Technology had a negative return on equity of 2.32% and a negative net margin of 18.54%.The firm had revenue of $120.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.39 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that PAR Technology Corporation will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

PAR Technology Company Profile

PAR Technology Corp is a provider of enterprise software and hardware solutions for the hospitality, foodservice and retail industries. The company’s platforms are designed to streamline front- and back-of-house operations, covering point-of-sale (POS) systems, kitchen display and dispatch, inventory and labor management, and reporting tools. PAR’s integrated approach enables operators of full-service restaurants, quick-service chains, bars, hotels, casinos and retail outlets to centralize data and automate workflows across multiple sites.

Key offerings include PAR Brink, a cloud-native POS application that supports touchscreen, mobile and tablet devices; PAR Cloud Services, which delivers software updates, reporting and analytics through a subscription model; and hardware solutions such as payment terminals, handheld devices and self-service kiosks.