Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Sets New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Pegasystems hit a new 52-week low, trading as low as $32.00 after previously closing at $33.50, highlighting continued weakness in the stock.
• Recent earnings missed expectations, with quarterly EPS of $0.46 versus $0.68 expected and revenue of $429.97 million versus $473.24 million forecast; revenue also fell 9.6% year over year.
• Despite the slump, analysts still have a Moderate Buy consensus on PEGA, with an average price target of $63.70, though several firms have recently trimmed targets or downgraded the stock.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $32.00 and last traded at $33.7070, with a volume of 139751 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp set a $60.00 target price on Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Citizens Jmp reduced their target price on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $58.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.70.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.55.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $429.97 million for 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 was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is presently 6.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total transaction of $42,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $144,291.20. The trade was a 22.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 44,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.81, for a total value of $1,971,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,123 shares in the company, valued at $4,889,801.63. The trade was a 28.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,594 shares of company stock valued at $2,344,024. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 236.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company's stock worth $217,584,000 after buying an additional 2,836,733 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 255.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company's stock worth $157,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,375 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 357.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,586,793 shares of the technology company's stock worth $91,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,998 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth about $47,817,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,987,291 shares of the technology company's stock worth $286,769,000 after acquiring an additional 937,216 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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