Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Receives $69.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.56.

PEGA has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. TheStreet raised Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.4 %

Pegasystems stock opened at $57.61 on Monday. Pegasystems has a 1-year low of $37.66 and a 1-year high of $69.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 81.14 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.56.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 39.30% and a net margin of 4.73%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $1,301,681.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,549,875.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total transaction of $48,278.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,940 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,148. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $1,301,681.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Pegasystems by 119.1% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,142,547 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $172,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164,581 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $22,784,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Pegasystems by 6.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,004,116 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,229,000 after purchasing an additional 310,242 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $11,958,000. Finally, Scopia Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the third quarter worth about $10,195,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.