Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. DA Davidson raised Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of PEGA opened at $54.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems has a twelve month low of $29.84 and a twelve month high of $68.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.56.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $381.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 4,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.25, for a total transaction of $297,581.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,853.50. This trade represents a 95.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total transaction of $270,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72,405 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,662.40. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 203,895 shares of company stock valued at $12,179,202 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 49.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 48.6% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 89,627 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 29,312 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Pegasystems by 4,286.4% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 965 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the first quarter valued at $875,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $2,584,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 12.0% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 14,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.