Short Interest in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Grows By 65.1%

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a growth of 65.1% from the June 15th total of 878,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 488,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $608,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 369,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,504,779.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $120,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,381,964.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $608,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 369,658 shares in the company, valued at $22,504,779.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,504 shares of company stock valued at $999,794 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 219.3% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 530 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 15,120.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PEGA shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $77.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.71.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $59.77. The company had a trading volume of 329,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 495,340. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.82. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $37.66 and a 12-month high of $69.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.89 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 45.00%. The company had revenue of $330.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $339.70 million. Analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.63%.

About Pegasystems

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.