Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. Pegasystems's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS.

Pegasystems Trading Up 14.7 %

PEGA stock traded up $10.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $79.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,730,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,075. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $37.66 and a 1-year high of $80.12. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.15 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.01.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares in the company, valued at $54,211.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total transaction of $73,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,263,060.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,955 shares of company stock worth $3,136,247 in the last quarter. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on PEGA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised shares of Pegasystems from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.60.

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.

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