Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Trading Up 6.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s share price shot up 6.6% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $69.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Pegasystems traded as high as $63.18 and last traded at $62.95. 268,495 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 485,569 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.08.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PEGA. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at $1,549,875.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Pegasystems news, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.39, for a total value of $633,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 379,658 shares in the company, valued at $24,066,520.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $1,301,681.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 43,792 shares of company stock valued at $2,781,669. 50.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at $91,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $469,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,133,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Stock Up 5.8 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.99. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 76.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 53.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.63%.

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.