Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Pegasystems, with six buys, six holds and one sell among 13 brokerages. The average 12-month price target is $50.10.
• Pegasystems’ latest quarterly results fell short of expectations: adjusted EPS was $0.35 versus the $0.43 consensus, while revenue reached $420.72 million, below the $427.38 million estimate but up 9.4% year over year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, equivalent to a 0.3% yield, while recent insider activity was net selling; institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 46.9% of the stock.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.10.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. William Blair downgraded shares of Pegasystems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Pegasystems from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $37.36 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $25.10 and a 1-year high of $68.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $32.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.33.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 18.66%.The business had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $427.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,164 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,105. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total value of $101,970.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,672,585.51. This trade represents a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,813 shares of company stock valued at $167,394. 48.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at approximately $286,923,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 236.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $217,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836,733 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 2,809.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,164,352 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $94,836,000 after purchasing an additional 3,055,609 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,127,771 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $186,790,000 after purchasing an additional 402,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 255.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $157,393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.

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