PagerDuty (NYSE:PD) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $15.61, but opened at $16.52. PagerDuty shares last traded at $18.00, with a volume of 1,083,862 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $121.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.53 million. PagerDuty had a negative net margin of 16.29% and a negative return on equity of 22.02%. PagerDuty’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS.

PagerDuty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 13th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 10.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of PagerDuty from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of PagerDuty from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of PagerDuty from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of PagerDuty from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $23.00 to $18.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of PagerDuty in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jennifer Tejada sold 1,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $31,380.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 868,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,366,220. This trade represents a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shelley Webb sold 7,879 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.19, for a total transaction of $143,319.01. Following the sale, the insider now owns 199,122 shares in the company, valued at $3,622,029.18. This represents a 3.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,048 shares of company stock worth $186,699 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PagerDuty

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PagerDuty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of PagerDuty by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,384 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of PagerDuty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of PagerDuty by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of PagerDuty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $130,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.26% of the company’s stock.

PagerDuty Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.01 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50-day moving average is $18.24 and its 200-day moving average is $18.69.

About PagerDuty

PagerDuty, Inc engages in the operation of a digital operations management platform in the United States and internationally. The company’s digital operations management platform collects data and digital signals from virtually any software-enabled system or device and leverage machine learning to correlate, process, and predict opportunities and issues.