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

Key Points

• Analysts have a “Hold” consensus on Pegasystems, with seven hold ratings and six buys among 13 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $50.10, though several firms recently lowered targets or downgraded their ratings.
• Pegasystems reported quarterly EPS of $0.35, missing the $0.43 consensus estimate, while revenue of $420.72 million also fell short of expectations. Revenue nevertheless increased 9.4% year over year.
• The stock opened at $31.35, near its 50-day average and well below its 52-week high of $68.10. Insiders sold $229,613 of shares over the past 90 days, while institutional investors—including BlackRock, AQR Capital Management and State Street—expanded their positions.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.10.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PEGA shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup downgraded Pegasystems from a "market outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson set a $32.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, William Blair cut Pegasystems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total value of $26,062.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total transaction of $151,575.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 107,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613 over the last ninety days. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter worth $286,923,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Pegasystems by 255.3% during 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. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at about $47,817,000. Finally, Capital Impact Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,705,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Stock Down 5.2%

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $31.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.38. Pegasystems has a 52 week low of $25.10 and a 52 week high of $68.10.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio is 6.78%.

About Pegasystems

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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