Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Price Down 6.8% – Here’s What Happened

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) fell 6.8% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $34.88 and last traded at $34.8360. Approximately 650,110 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 2,372,470 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PEGA. KeyCorp lowered Pegasystems from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup downgraded Pegasystems from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. DA Davidson set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.10.

Pegasystems Trading Down 6.5%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.28. The firm has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.73 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total transaction of $101,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 108,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,672,585.51. The trade was a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $41,191.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,164 shares in the company, valued at $45,105. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 4,813 shares of company stock worth $167,394 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Pegasystems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 386.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 710 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. 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.