Pegasystems Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 3,158 call options on the company. This is an increase of 241% compared to the typical volume of 925 call options.

Pegasystems Stock Up 15.0%

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $65.59 on Thursday. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $29.84 and a fifty-two week high of $67.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.02 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.06.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 43.30% and a net margin of 16.05%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wedbush upped their price target on Pegasystems from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson upgraded Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 2,544 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total value of $150,096.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total value of $270,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,662.40. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,728 shares of company stock valued at $7,073,070 over the last three months. 49.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 100.9% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 196,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,492,000 after acquiring an additional 98,468 shares during the last quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 703,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,086,000 after buying an additional 351,800 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 240,225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,003,000 after buying an additional 90,404 shares during the last quarter. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 117.3% in the 2nd quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 8,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 4,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter worth about $542,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.