Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Has Average Target Price of $45.73 According to Analysts

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.73.

Several equities research analysts have commented on PEGA shares. Barclays set a $42.00 price objective on Pegasystems and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. William Blair cut shares of Pegasystems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $35.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, October 22nd.

Pegasystems Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $34.11 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems has a 52 week low of $25.10 and a 52 week high of $63.97.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $393.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $421.06 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.86% and a return on equity of 35.22%. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, Director Dianne Ledingham sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $38,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 39,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,492,640. This trade represents a 2.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total value of $252,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 104,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,776,088.12. This trade represents a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,672 shares of company stock worth $1,921,657 in the last 90 days. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $286,923,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 44.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,048,599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $87,188,000 after acquiring an additional 630,023 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 26.4% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,777,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,165,000 after acquiring an additional 370,824 shares during the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Pegasystems by 15.6% in the first quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,052,849 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,809,000 after acquiring an additional 141,873 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Pegasystems by 52.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,052,205 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,782,000 after acquiring an additional 363,896 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Company Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company that develops enterprise applications for customer engagement, workflow automation and business process management. Its technology helps organizations manage customer interactions, automate repetitive work, coordinate complex processes and make data-driven decisions across departments and channels.

The company’s portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and workflow platform, along with solutions for customer service, sales automation, marketing, decisioning and artificial intelligence.