Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

PEGA has been the topic of a number of other reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of PEGA opened at $77.00 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.14. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $54.55 and a 52-week high of $113.67. The firm has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. On average, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total transaction of $28,973.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,528,043.58. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,493 shares of company stock worth $4,179,120 in the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,281 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth $66,542,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 398.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 702,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,505,000 after purchasing an additional 561,807 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at $27,623,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.