Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

PEGA has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities raised shares of Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $80.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.12. The stock has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.19 and a beta of 1.07. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $38.94 and a fifty-two week high of $82.22.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.55, for a total value of $203,933.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,229,207.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 3,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.55, for a total value of $203,933.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,229,207.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $54,067.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,211.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,955 shares of company stock valued at $3,136,247. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,118,964 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $250,113,000 after acquiring an additional 114,848 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,008 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth approximately $758,000. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 13,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 113.2% in the 1st quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 39,569 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after acquiring an additional 21,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.