Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $47.40

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is neutral: Nine of 13 analysts rate Pegasystems “hold,” while four recommend buying it. The average 12-month price target is $47.40, above the stock’s reported $34.43 opening price.
• Quarterly results fell short of expectations: Pegasystems reported $0.35 in earnings per share versus the $0.43 consensus estimate and revenue of $420.72 million versus $427.38 million expected, though revenue increased 9.4% year over year.
• The company declared a small dividend: Pegasystems will pay $0.03 per share quarterly, or $0.12 annually, representing a 0.3% yield and a 6.78% payout ratio.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.40.

PEGA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Loop Capital cut Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut Pegasystems from a "market outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Pegasystems Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $34.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $25.10 and a 52-week high of $68.10. The business's 50 day moving average is $33.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.09.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The firm had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio is 6.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dianne Ledingham sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $38,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 39,280 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,492,640. This trade represents a 2.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total value of $252,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 104,804 shares in the company, valued at $3,776,088.12. This trade represents a 6.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,672 shares of company stock worth $1,887,507. Corporate insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 35,691 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 13,264 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 20.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,406 shares of the technology company's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 59.8% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 40,987 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 15,343 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,032 shares of the technology company's stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at $5,007,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Company Profile

Pegasystems Inc is an enterprise software company that develops applications for customer engagement, business process management and workflow automation. Its software is designed to help organizations manage complex operations, improve customer service and automate decision-making across departments and channels.

The company's product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and process automation platform, as well as solutions for customer relationship management, customer service, sales automation, marketing, fraud detection and case management.

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