Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $98.44, but opened at $105.00. Pegasystems shares last traded at $103.61, with a volume of 398,423 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays restated a “positive” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.27.

Pegasystems Trading Up 4.7%

The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.50 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.83.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.015 dividend. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is presently 5.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.50, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,750. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 17,713 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.36, for a total value of $1,582,833.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,920,793.20. This represents a 45.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 128,520 shares of company stock worth $9,752,250. Company insiders own 49.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546,281 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the first quarter worth $151,149,000. TPG GP A LLC grew its position in Pegasystems by 4.3% in the first quarter. TPG GP A LLC now owns 2,022,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $140,620,000 after purchasing an additional 82,845 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Pegasystems by 60.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,200,819 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,337,000 after buying an additional 450,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at $68,229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.