Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup upped 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Loop Capital upped their price target on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $66.64 on Friday. Pegasystems has a twelve month low of $29.84 and a twelve month high of $68.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a PE ratio of 44.72 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.01.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 43.49% and a net margin of 16.05%.The company had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid 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 is currently 8.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 3,993 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total transaction of $261,541.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 206 shares in the company, valued at $13,493. This represents a 95.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 14,865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $942,441.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 118,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,531,856.60. This trade represents a 11.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 186,004 shares of company stock valued at $10,795,187. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 50.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 5,625 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at $207,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at $289,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 70.2% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,433 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.