The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target to $78.00

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its price target hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $70.00 to $78.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on PEGA. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $77.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $79.86.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $66.88 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $37.66 and a 1 year high of $71.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.56 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $351.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.55 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.41) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.34, for a total transaction of $45,375.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,603.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,504,779.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.34, for a total transaction of $45,375.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,603.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,504 shares of company stock valued at $1,069,794 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bares Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,862,346 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $286,434,000 after purchasing an additional 90,993 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,067,000 after buying an additional 250,273 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Pegasystems by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 946,109 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,227,000 after purchasing an additional 31,925 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Pegasystems by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 625,471 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,561,000 after acquiring an additional 143,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 77.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 499,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,273,000 after purchasing an additional 218,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.