Pegasystems' (PEGA) Market Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Citizens Jmp

Key Points

• Citizens JMP reaffirmed Pegasystems at “market outperform” with a $58 price target, implying roughly 70% upside from the prior close.
• The stock was down 2.7% and opened at $34.16, well below its 12-month high of $68.10 and below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Recent earnings came in below expectations, with $0.46 EPS versus the $0.68 estimate and revenue of $429.97 million versus $473.24 million expected; analysts still see 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market outperform" rating restated by stock analysts at Citizens Jmp in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $58.00 target price on the technology company's stock. Citizens Jmp's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 69.79% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Pegasystems Trading Down 2.7%

PEGA opened at $34.16 on Wednesday. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $32.00 and a 12-month high of $68.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.05%. The firm's revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $27,742.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,144 shares in the company, valued at $79,306.56. This trade represents a 25.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total transaction of $151,575.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,070 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,784.50. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 14,639 shares of company stock valued at $577,764 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,652 shares of the technology company's stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the technology company's stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Pegasystems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 39,881 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,382,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 1.4% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 22,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $936,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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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