Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Raised to Buy at DA Davidson

Key Points

• Pegasystems has been upgraded by DA Davidson from a neutral to a buy rating, with a price target of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.32%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets on Pegasystems, with eight now rating the stock as buy and offering a consensus price target of $65.28.
• Pegasystems reported quarterly earnings of $0.30 per share, beating estimates, and achieving a revenue of $381.35 million, a 17.3% increase year-over-year.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at DA Davidson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $85.00 price target on the technology company's stock. DA Davidson's price target would indicate a potential upside of 31.32% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on PEGA. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.28.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA traded up $7.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $64.73. 2,964,623 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,831,079. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $29.84 and a fifty-two week high of $67.00. The company has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.64 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $55.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.96.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $381.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 42.42% and a net margin of 13.14%.Pegasystems's quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Larry Weber sold 2,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.98, for a total value of $150,199.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $605,811.36. This represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 9,879 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.82, for a total transaction of $571,203.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 78,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,542,339.20. This represents a 11.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,607 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,274 over the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter worth $33,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 40.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 218,917 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,489,000 after acquiring an additional 63,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,241,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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