Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Announces $0.03 Quarterly Dividend

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.03 per share by the technology company on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd.

Pegasystems has a dividend payout ratio of 3.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Pegasystems to earn $1.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.5%.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA traded down $0.55 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $96.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 439,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,994. The company has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 70.55 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $44.07 and a fifty-two week high of $97.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.04.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total transaction of $80,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,772,818.33. This trade represents a 2.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 8,288 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.23, for a total transaction of $673,234.24. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,057,172.28. The trade was a 18.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,914 shares of company stock worth $2,283,688 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PEGA shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays boosted 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. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.90.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.