Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JMP Securities upgraded Pegasystems from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Loop Capital upgraded Pegasystems from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $83.60.

Pegasystems Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $71.48 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 12 month low of $37.66 and a 12 month high of $74.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a PE ratio of 87.17 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.63%.

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 approximately $54,211.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 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 $54,067.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total value of $73,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,263,060.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,955 shares of company stock worth $3,206,247. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at $67,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 266.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,641,000 after purchasing an additional 284,095 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,381,000 after purchasing an additional 283,508 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,067,000 after purchasing an additional 250,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 77.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 499,532 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,273,000 after purchasing an additional 218,599 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.