Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Pegasystems has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, based on eleven brokerages: eight rate it a buy and three a hold. The average 12-month price target is $63.70.
• The company’s latest earnings report missed expectations, with EPS of $0.46 versus estimates of $0.68 and revenue of $429.97 million versus expected $473.24 million. Revenue also fell 9.6% year over year.
• The stock was trading up 5.6% to $35.73, though it remains below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Pegasystems also pays a small quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.70.

PEGA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $65.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $55.00 price objective on Pegasystems and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th.

Pegasystems Trading Up 5.6%

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $35.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $38.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.13. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $32.00 and a 12-month high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.05%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 44,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.81, for a total transaction of $1,971,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,123 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,889,801.63. This represents a 28.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total value of $42,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,365 shares in the company, valued at $144,291.20. This represents a 22.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 57,139 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,599 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 236.2% in the second 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 holdings in Pegasystems by 255.3% in the second 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. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 357.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,586,793 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $91,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239,998 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at $47,817,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 271.7% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,111,736 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $63,925,000 after purchasing an additional 812,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

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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