Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $89.00.

PEGA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.00, for a total transaction of $54,144.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,763,936. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total value of $43,824.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,914 shares of company stock valued at $2,283,688 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 110.0% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at $9,567,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the second quarter worth $67,968,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter worth $497,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $95.06 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.33. The stock has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 69.39 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $44.07 and a 1-year high of $97.94.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.76%.

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.