StockNews.com Upgrades Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) to Strong-Buy

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JMP Securities raised shares of Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Pegasystems stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $38.94 and a 1 year high of $82.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.25. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.19 and a beta of 1.07.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $54,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,211.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total value of $70,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,417.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,955 shares of company stock worth $3,136,247. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 5.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,099 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 13,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. 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.