Analysts Set Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Target Price at $50.10

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.10.

PEGA has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup cut Pegasystems from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital downgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.4%

Pegasystems stock opened at $31.88 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.00. The stock has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.87. Pegasystems has a twelve month low of $25.10 and a twelve month high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 18.66%.The firm had revenue of $420.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $427.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.78%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,250 shares of company stock worth $78,038 over the last quarter. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth $286,923,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Pegasystems by 236.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836,733 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Pegasystems by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,127,771 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,790,000 after purchasing an additional 402,763 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Pegasystems by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,721,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $162,555,000 after buying an additional 599,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.