Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded by Zacks Research to Hold Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PEGA. DA Davidson set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Pegasystems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.40.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $35.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.54. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $25.10 and a 1 year high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its 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). Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The firm had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 6.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total value of $252,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 104,804 shares in the company, valued at $3,776,088.12. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 39,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $1,417,457.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 95,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,406,198.25. This represents a 29.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 52,672 shares of company stock valued at $1,887,507 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Signature Equity Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc develops enterprise software for customer engagement, workflow automation and business process management. Its solutions help organizations manage customer service, sales, marketing, operations and back-office processes across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and automation platform; Pega Customer Service and Pega Sales; Pega Customer Decision Hub for real-time, personalized customer engagement; and tools for case management, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence.