Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Cut to Market Perform at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PEGA. Zacks Research downgraded Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.10.

Pegasystems Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $26.82 on Wednesday. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $25.10 and a 1-year high of $68.10. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.70.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The firm had revenue of $420.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.45%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $27,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,306.56. This represents a 25.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,570,784.50. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at $31,905,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 117.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 814,062 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,427,000 after acquiring an additional 439,417 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,170,377 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,895,000 after acquiring an additional 33,643 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 259.7% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 411,262 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,144,000 after acquiring an additional 296,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 58.6% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 137,302 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,844,000 after acquiring an additional 50,716 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.