Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target Raised to $82.00

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $74.00 to $82.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised 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. William Blair upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Loop Capital raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. 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 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $80.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.60 and a beta of 1.07. Pegasystems has a one year low of $38.94 and a one year high of $82.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.27.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 49.62% and a net margin of 8.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total transaction of $73,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,263,060.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total value of $73,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,263,060.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,955 shares of company stock worth $3,136,247. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,067,000 after acquiring an additional 250,273 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 7.9% during the second quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,399,000 after buying an additional 49,861 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 283,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,304,000 after buying an additional 34,416 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.