Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Price Down 11.2% – Here’s What Happened

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) shares traded down 11.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $44.08 and last traded at $43.8110. 621,490 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 1,426,237 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEGA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. DA Davidson raised shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.05.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.32 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.62.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.02, for a total transaction of $2,205,900.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 44,394,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,176,216,135.08. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.19, for a total transaction of $240,760.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 112,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,792,140.55. This represents a 3.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 164,847 shares of company stock valued at $9,308,941. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,987,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,769,000 after buying an additional 937,216 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems during the third quarter worth about $1,515,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Pegasystems by 100.9% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 196,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,492,000 after acquiring an additional 98,468 shares during the period. Herald Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 100.0% in the second quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 703,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,086,000 after acquiring an additional 351,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 60.3% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 240,225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,003,000 after purchasing an additional 90,404 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Pegasystems

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.