Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $28.72 and last traded at $29.38, with a volume of 2964739 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on PEGA shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.19. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 6.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $26,062.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total transaction of $151,575.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613. 48.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 236.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,584,000 after buying an additional 2,836,733 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 255.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,375 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 357.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,586,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239,998 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $47,817,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 271.7% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,111,736 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,925,000 after purchasing an additional 812,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Company Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.