Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Insider Sells $70,560.16 in Stock

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total transaction of $70,560.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,563,006.59. The trade was a 1.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Leon Trefler also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 2nd, Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total transaction of $71,139.20.
• On Friday, November 1st, Leon Trefler sold 8,288 shares of Pegasystems stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.23, for a total value of $673,234.24.

Pegasystems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of PEGA traded up $1.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $94.50. The company had a trading volume of 531,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 553,396. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.98 and a beta of 1.09. The company's 50 day moving average price is $91.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.12. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.07 and a 52 week high of $97.94.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. Pegasystems's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 5.0% during the second quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Pegasystems by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,099 shares of the technology company's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 49.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 656 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 29.9% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 2.3% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,744 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEGA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $91.50.

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.