Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $93.91.

PEGA has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of PEGA traded up $6.23 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $100.00. 1,283,326 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 796,435. Pegasystems has a twelve month low of $45.36 and a twelve month high of $100.23. The company has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.99 and a beta of 1.09. The business's 50-day moving average price is $93.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.12.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The firm's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 5,792 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total transaction of $458,436.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,377,210. This trade represents a 24.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total value of $43,824.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,914 shares of company stock valued at $2,414,935. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the second quarter worth approximately $67,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 266.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $23,641,000 after purchasing an additional 284,095 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% during the 2nd 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 period. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at $9,567,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 440.5% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 147,350 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,770,000 after buying an additional 120,090 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.