Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Trading Down 6.8% – What’s Next?

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) shares dropped 6.8% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $34.88 and last traded at $34.8360. 650,110 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 2,372,470 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Pegasystems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. KeyCorp cut Pegasystems from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 price target on Pegasystems and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.10.

Pegasystems Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.28. The firm has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73 and a beta of 0.89.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is presently 6.78%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 3,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total value of $101,970.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 108,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,672,585.51. The trade was a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $41,191.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,105. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 4,813 shares of company stock valued at $167,394 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,652 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $785,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 39,881 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Pegasystems by 1.4% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 22,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $936,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Pegasystems by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.