Insider Selling: Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Sells 1,063 Shares

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) CAO Efstathios Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $41,191.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,105. This represents a 47.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of PEGA stock traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $37.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,718,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,383,556. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $25.10 and a one year high of $68.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $31.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.42.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $420.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. EFG International AG bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Signature Equity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 302.2% during the 1st quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on PEGA shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson set a $32.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.10.

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.