Citigroup Raises Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target to $92.00

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its target price boosted by Citigroup from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

PEGA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised Pegasystems from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $83.60.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $72.21 on Wednesday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $37.66 and a 1 year high of $74.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $67.47 and a 200-day moving average of $62.89. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.06 and a beta of 1.07.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The firm had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.41) EPS. Pegasystems’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $66,172.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $66,172.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $70,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,535,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,955 shares of company stock worth $3,243,771 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,968,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $22,784,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Pegasystems by 266.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,641,000 after acquiring an additional 284,095 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 104.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,381,000 after acquiring an additional 283,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,067,000 after acquiring an additional 250,273 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.