Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis Sells 750 Shares

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $53,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Pegasystems Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $69.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.77 and a beta of 1.08. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.66 and a 52 week high of $72.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.96.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $351.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.55 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.41) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 13,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on PEGA shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.60.

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.