Analysts Set Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Target Price at $70.05

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.05.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Leon Trefler sold 14,865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total value of $942,441.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 118,799 shares in the company, valued at $7,531,856.60. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 17,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total transaction of $1,140,154.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 127,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,487,646.40. The trade was a 11.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 205,301 shares of company stock worth $12,297,609. 49.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 274.2% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 321.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 902.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 682 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $56.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.62 and a beta of 1.08. Pegasystems has a twelve month low of $29.84 and a twelve month high of $68.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.45.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 43.49% and a net margin of 16.05%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.05%.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.