Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PEGA. JMP Securities upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA traded down $2.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $86.25. The stock had a trading volume of 64,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 545,749. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $74.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.65. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.64 and a beta of 1.06. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $44.07 and a 52-week high of $91.54.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $53,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142. This represents a 99.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.55, for a total value of $203,933.45. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,229,207.35. The trade was a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,093 shares of company stock worth $3,042,389 in the last ninety days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,210 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 95.7% in the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 12,219 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 5,974 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 43.0% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 55,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 16,571 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc develops, markets, licenses, hosts, and supports enterprise software in the United States, rest of the Americas, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company provides Pega Infinity, a software portfolio comprising of Pega Customer Decision Hub, a real-time AI-powered decision engine to enhance customer acquisition and experiences across inbound, outbound, and paid media channels; Pega Customer Service to anticipate customer needs, connect customers to people and systems, and automate customer interactions to evolve the customer service experience, as well as to allow enterprises to deliver interactions across channels and enhance employee productivity; and Pega Platform, an intelligent automation software for increasing efficiency of clients’ processes and workflows.