Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JMP Securities upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $80.03 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $38.94 and a 52-week high of $82.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.27. The company has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a PE ratio of 97.60 and a beta of 1.07.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 49.62% and a net margin of 8.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.63%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, Director Richard H. Jones sold 15,271 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total value of $1,057,516.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 371,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,746,249.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total value of $73,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,263,060.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 15,271 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,057,516.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 371,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,746,249.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,955 shares of company stock worth $3,136,247 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at about $67,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,381,000 after buying an additional 283,508 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,067,000 after buying an additional 250,273 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 77.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 499,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,273,000 after acquiring an additional 218,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.