Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives $93.91 Consensus PT from Analysts

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.91.

Several research firms have commented on PEGA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 5,792 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total transaction of $458,436.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,377,210. This trade represents a 24.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 8,288 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.23, for a total transaction of $673,234.24. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,057,172.28. The trade was a 18.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,914 shares of company stock worth $2,414,935 over the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Pegasystems by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 52,022 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 82.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 59,841 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,622,000 after buying an additional 26,959 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 266.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,641,000 after buying an additional 284,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 4.5% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 107,824 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,527,000 after buying an additional 4,600 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Pegasystems stock opened at $105.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.22 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $45.95 and a fifty-two week high of $106.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.34.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The company had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.11%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 8.76%.

About Pegasystems

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.