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

Key Points

• Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from ten analysts, with a target price averaging $62.50.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.28, exceeding expectations, and achieved a year-over-year revenue growth of 9.5%.
• Pegasystems recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, reflecting a 0.2% yield and a payout ratio of 10.34%.

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.50.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th.

Pegasystems Price Performance

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $54.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.41. The firm has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 46.86 and a beta of 1.08. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $29.84 and a 1-year high of $61.00.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $384.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $345.07 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 42.42%. The company's revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio is 10.34%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 11,147 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.19, for a total transaction of $648,643.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 119,868 shares in the company, valued at $6,975,118.92. The trade was a 8.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 132,607 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,274 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 49.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Herald Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 100.0% in the second quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 703,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,086,000 after purchasing an additional 351,800 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 50.9% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,889 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 117.3% in the second quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 8,031 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 4,335 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at $761,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at $542,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.

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