Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Trading 6.6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) traded up 6.6% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $69.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Pegasystems traded as high as $63.18 and last traded at $62.95. 268,495 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 485,569 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.08.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PEGA. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $25,576.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $469,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,133,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Trading Up 4.6 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.83 and its 200 day moving average is $53.19. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.37 and a beta of 1.06.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 45.00%. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

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.