Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Raised to "Hold" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Pegasystems from “strong sell” to “hold,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Hold” with a $47.40 average price target.
• Pegasystems opened at $35.18, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.78 billion; its shares have traded between $25.10 and $68.10 over the past year.
• The company’s latest quarterly results missed expectations, reporting $0.35 in EPS versus $0.43 expected and revenue of $420.72 million versus $427.38 million forecast, although revenue increased 9.4% year over year.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp cut Pegasystems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Pegasystems from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pegasystems has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.40.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $35.18 on Tuesday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $25.10 and a 1 year high of $68.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88 and a beta of 0.89. The business's 50 day moving average price is $33.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.54.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.08). The business 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%. Pegasystems's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $41,191.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,105. The trade was a 47.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total transaction of $252,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 104,804 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,776,088.12. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 52,672 shares of company stock valued at $1,887,507 over the last three months. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,770,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 52.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,052,205 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,782,000 after purchasing an additional 363,896 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at $31,905,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 117.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 814,062 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $34,427,000 after buying an additional 439,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Pegasystems by 259.7% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 411,262 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $26,144,000 after buying an additional 296,916 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc develops enterprise software for customer engagement, workflow automation and business process management. Its solutions help organizations manage customer service, sales, marketing, operations and back-office processes across digital and traditional channels.

The company's product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and automation platform; Pega Customer Service and Pega Sales; Pega Customer Decision Hub for real-time, personalized customer engagement; and tools for case management, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.