Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $92.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Pegasystems traded as high as $73.16 and last traded at $73.02, with a volume of 9162 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.12.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. William Blair upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities raised Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total value of $70,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,417.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total value of $70,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,417.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,277.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,064.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,955 shares of company stock valued at $3,243,771. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Pegasystems by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 15,120.0% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 64.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 869 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 633.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $104,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.88 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 14.63%.

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.