Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Pegasystems an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from 11 brokerages, with a mean 1‑year price target of $63.70 versus the recent share price near $36.79.
• In the latest quarter the company missed estimates, reporting EPS of $0.46 (vs. $0.68 expected) and revenue of $429.97 million (vs. $473.24 million), with revenue down 9.6% year‑over‑year.
• Pegasystems has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a trailing PE of 19.78 and a 1‑year range of $34.33–$68.10; insiders sold about 52,594 shares in the past 90 days but still own roughly 48.4% of the company.

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.70.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PEGA. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research cut Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. KeyCorp set a $60.00 target price on Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $36.79 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.56. The company has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78 and a beta of 0.88. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $34.33 and a 1-year high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 6.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total transaction of $329,503.66. Following the sale, the insider owned 111,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,834,904.31. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total transaction of $42,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at $144,291.20. This represents a 22.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,594 shares of company stock worth $2,344,024. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 23.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,987,291 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $286,769,000 after acquiring an additional 937,216 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Pegasystems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,927,576 shares of the technology company's stock worth $110,778,000 after purchasing an additional 25,598 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,515,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,940,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 218,917 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $12,489,000 after purchasing an additional 63,267 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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