Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Key Points

• Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating on Pegasystems with a $60 price objective (implying ~69% upside); MarketBeat's consensus target is $63.60 with a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Pegasystems missed the quarter, reporting $0.46 EPS vs. $0.68 expected and revenue of $429.97M vs. $473.24M (down 9.6% YoY), and the stock traded down 5.3% to $35.50.
• Insiders sold 52,594 shares worth about $2.34M in the last quarter (insiders still own 49.7% of shares), while several institutional investors modestly adjusted or added positions.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price objective on the technology company's stock. Wedbush's price objective indicates a potential upside of 69.03% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PEGA. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. KeyCorp set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $58.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.60.

Pegasystems Trading Down 5.3%

PEGA stock traded down $1.98 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,266,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,280,893. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $34.33 and a 1-year high of $68.10. The company has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.40.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.22). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.46% and a net margin of 20.04%.The firm had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the business'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 directly owned 111,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,834,904.31. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 52,594 shares of company stock valued at $2,344,024 in the last quarter. Insiders own 49.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Pegasystems by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 15,753 shares of the technology company's stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth about $1,128,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Pegasystems by 103.3% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,228 shares of the technology company's stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth about $4,737,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Pegasystems by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 82,655 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 28,959 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

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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