Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Loop Capital upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. William Blair upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA stock opened at $81.07 on Monday. Pegasystems has a one year low of $44.00 and a one year high of $82.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 59.18 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $71.91 and a 200-day moving average of $65.17.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. Pegasystems’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $53,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $142. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $53,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $66,172.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,565 shares of company stock worth $2,998,565. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,067,000 after buying an additional 250,273 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP increased its stake in Pegasystems by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,399,000 after purchasing an additional 49,861 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 104.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,381,000 after buying an additional 283,508 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,304,000 after buying an additional 34,416 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.