Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $98.00 and last traded at $96.50, with a volume of 38811 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $93.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PEGA shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.91.

Pegasystems Trading Up 3.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.61 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.12.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. Pegasystems’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total value of $80,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,772,818.33. The trade was a 2.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total value of $70,560.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,563,006.59. The trade was a 1.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,914 shares of company stock valued at $2,414,935 over the last ninety days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at approximately $67,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 266.8% during 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% during the second 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 last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,567,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 440.5% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 147,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,770,000 after buying an additional 120,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.