Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $85.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $60.00.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on PEGA. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of PEGA opened at $66.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a PE ratio of 44.48 and a beta of 1.08. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $29.84 and a 52-week high of $67.19.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.12. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. The company had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Larry Weber sold 2,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.98, for a total value of $150,199.28. Following the sale, the director owned 10,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $605,811.36. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 2,544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total transaction of $150,096.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,728 shares of company stock valued at $9,625,920 in the last 90 days. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 274.2% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at $33,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 139.7% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 549 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 124.5% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 696 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 902.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 682 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.