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

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.33.

PEGA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. TheStreet upgraded Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA stock opened at $61.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.31. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $37.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 74.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 45.00%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.5 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 paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 1,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $95,955.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,005.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.43, for a total value of $132,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,062,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 1,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $95,955.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,533 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,005.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,544 shares of company stock valued at $3,556,625 over the last ninety days. 50.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth about $22,784,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 6.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,004,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,229,000 after buying an additional 310,242 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Pegasystems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,958,000. Scopia Capital Management LP bought a new position in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth $10,195,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 208.7% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 238,501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,344,000 after acquiring an additional 161,234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.