Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.36.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 lowered Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $69.52 on Monday. Pegasystems has a one year low of $54.55 and a one year high of $113.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.83 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.80.

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

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.09%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $2,437,470.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,353,860.68. The trade was a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at $1,528,043.58. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 81,543 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,614. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 16,230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after buying an additional 4,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 84,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,829,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.