Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Declares $0.03 Quarterly Dividend

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.03 per share by the technology company on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st.

Pegasystems has a dividend payout ratio of 3.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Pegasystems to earn $1.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $72.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.94. The company has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.06 and a beta of 1.07. Pegasystems has a one year low of $37.66 and a one year high of $74.40.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The firm had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.41) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $54,067.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,211.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,412 shares in the company, valued at $2,769,121.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,067.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,955 shares of company stock worth $3,243,771. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on PEGA shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Loop Capital raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.60.

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.