Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Hits New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Pegasystems Inc. shares have reached a new 52-week high, trading at $60.70, with a market capitalization of $10.34 billion.
• Recent analyst ratings include a downgrade from "strong-buy" to "buy" by Wall Street Zen, and price target increases from several firms, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Despite the positive performance, there has been insider selling, with significant shares sold by executives in the last ninety days, leading to a 5.35% decrease in one insider's position.

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $61.00 and last traded at $60.70, with a volume of 33472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEGA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $55.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.83.

Pegasystems Stock Up 0.1%

The stock has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.72 and a beta of 1.08. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $55.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.09.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 10.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.97, for a total value of $227,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 70,717 shares in the company, valued at $4,028,747.49. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry Weber sold 2,636 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.98, for a total transaction of $150,199.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,632 shares in the company, valued at $605,811.36. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 181,607 shares of company stock worth $10,255,134 in the last ninety days. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. 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 valued at $219,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875,896 shares during 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 valued at $217,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,836,733 shares during the last quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 76.6% during the second quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,542,716 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $191,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,726 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 255.3% during 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 34.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,444,661 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $132,329,000 after purchasing an additional 620,878 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by 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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