William Blair Upgrades Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) to “Outperform”

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was upgraded by investment analysts at William Blair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Tuesday, FinViz reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.86.

Pegasystems Trading Up 7.5 %

PEGA stock traded up $4.95 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,433,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 514,917. The company has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.44 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.13. Pegasystems has a 12 month low of $37.66 and a 12 month high of $72.00.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 49.62% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.41) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,277.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,064.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,277.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,064.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $120,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,381,964.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,752 shares of company stock valued at $415,618. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 219.3% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 530 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 15,120.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.