Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target Cut to $97.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $103.00 to $97.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PEGA. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $85.02 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $54.55 and a 1-year high of $113.67. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a PE ratio of 62.06 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.74.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. As a group, analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,528,043.58. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total transaction of $71,139.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,489,226.40. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,003 shares of company stock worth $1,346,086 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,347,000 after buying an additional 1,546,281 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Pegasystems by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 860,361 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,188,000 after purchasing an additional 164,986 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Pegasystems by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 825,762 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,983,000 after purchasing an additional 6,480 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Pegasystems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 807,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,275,000 after purchasing an additional 4,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shannon River Fund Management LLC raised its position in Pegasystems by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Shannon River Fund Management LLC now owns 798,356 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,407,000 after purchasing an additional 9,989 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% 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.