Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.33.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PEGA. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

Pegasystems Trading Down 0.4 %

PEGA stock opened at $61.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.43 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $62.08 and its 200-day moving average is $54.31. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $37.66 and a 1-year high of $69.26.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 45.00% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $25,576.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $120,780.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,884 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,964.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,544 shares of company stock valued at $3,556,625 over the last three months. Company insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,252,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 6.1% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 49,541 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at $423,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Pegasystems by 26.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 91,334 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,919,000 after acquiring an additional 19,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 64.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 869 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.