Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Short Interest Up 66.7% in December

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,090,000 shares, an increase of 66.7% from the November 30th total of 654,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 504,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.67, for a total transaction of $586,954.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,748,176.22. This trade represents a 25.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,914 shares of company stock worth $2,283,688. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the third quarter worth about $436,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in Pegasystems by 110.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,567,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $67,968,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $497,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA traded down $1.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $94.46. 260,428 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 532,628. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.95 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $44.07 and a 1 year high of $97.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.89.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 8.76%.

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.