Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Announces Earnings Results

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The technology company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.60, Zacks reports. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%.

Pegasystems Trading Up 3.6 %

PEGA traded up $2.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.76. 1,051,536 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 669,994. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $54.55 and a 52-week high of $113.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.41. The company has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.08 and a beta of 1.22.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.015 dividend. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is presently 11.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $119.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $97.00 to $84.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.41, for a total value of $2,154,915.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 17,184,614 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,599,443.74. This trade represents a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,528,043.58. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,291 shares of company stock worth $8,289,469 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 50.10% of the company's stock.

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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