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

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.30.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $26,062.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares in the company, valued at $100,566.50. This represents a 20.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,784.50. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 236.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,836,733 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,127,771 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,790,000 after buying an additional 402,763 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Pegasystems by 255.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,375 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,721,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $162,555,000 after purchasing an additional 599,790 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pegasystems by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,529,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,094,000 after buying an additional 61,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA stock opened at $32.16 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $28.66 and a 1 year high of $68.10. The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.80.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.45%.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.