Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PEGA. Loop Capital raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $86.55 on Tuesday. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $44.07 and a 12-month high of $91.54. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.18 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.65.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 3,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.55, for a total transaction of $203,933.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,229,207.35. This trade represents a 14.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 4,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total transaction of $331,171.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 367,058 shares in the company, valued at $25,705,071.74. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,093 shares of company stock valued at $3,042,389 in the last three months. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter valued at about $758,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 82,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,333,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 64.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 26.3% during 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 during the period. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.