Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Sells $24,232.50 in Stock

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Efstathios Kouninis sold 750 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total transaction of $24,232.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,376 shares in the company, valued at $76,768.56. This trade represents a 23.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Pegasystems Stock Down 6.6%

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $30.23 on Thursday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.11 and a 52 week high of $68.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.09. The company has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.The company had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on PEGA. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Zacks Research cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 236.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836,733 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 255.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,375 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 357.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,586,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,998 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter worth about $47,817,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 271.7% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,111,736 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,925,000 after purchasing an additional 812,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.