Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $65.44.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PEGA. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. TheStreet raised Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $65.10 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.92 and a 200-day moving average of $50.38. The company has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.69 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $37.66 and a 1 year high of $69.26.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 39.30%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.43, for a total value of $132,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,062,880. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.43, for a total value of $132,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,062,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,040 shares of company stock valued at $2,605,991 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at $346,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Pegasystems by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,008 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Pegasystems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,118,964 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $250,113,000 after purchasing an additional 114,848 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at about $286,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.