Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has received an average analyst rating of "Moderate Buy", with two analysts rating the stock as hold and seven as buy, reflecting a positive outlook.
• The company's 12-month price target is set at approximately $61.83, while it recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.28 per share, exceeding estimates.
• Pegasystems announced a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, resulting in a 0.2% dividend yield, to be paid on October 15th.

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.8333.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PEGA shares. Loop Capital increased their price target on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, August 17th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $55.00 to $62.50 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Pegasystems Trading Up 0.5%

PEGA traded up $0.30 on Monday, hitting $59.98. 941,471 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,314,325. Pegasystems has a 52 week low of $29.84 and a 52 week high of $60.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a PE ratio of 51.49 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $55.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.01.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 42.42% and a net margin of 13.14%.The company had revenue of $384.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $345.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is currently 10.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 2,544 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total transaction of $150,096.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.97, for a total value of $227,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 70,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,028,747.49. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 181,607 shares of company stock valued at $10,255,134 in the last quarter. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Pegasystems by 86.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,050,075 shares of the technology company's stock worth $219,231,000 after buying an additional 1,875,896 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pegasystems by 236.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company's stock worth $217,584,000 after buying an additional 2,836,733 shares in the last quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Pegasystems by 76.6% during the second quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,542,716 shares of the technology company's stock worth $191,767,000 after buying an additional 1,536,726 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Pegasystems by 255.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company's stock worth $157,393,000 after buying an additional 2,089,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Pegasystems by 34.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,444,661 shares of the technology company's stock worth $132,329,000 after buying an additional 620,878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

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.