Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Up 6.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) traded up 6.6% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $69.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Pegasystems traded as high as $63.18 and last traded at $62.95. 268,495 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 485,569 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.08.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PEGA. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $127,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,585,110.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $127,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,884 shares in the company, valued at $1,585,110.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669. 50.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,004,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,229,000 after acquiring an additional 310,242 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 946,109 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,227,000 after acquiring an additional 31,925 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 318,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,804,000 after purchasing an additional 10,653 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,104,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter worth $114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 75.37 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $62.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.12.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 53.49% and a net margin of 5.32%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

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.