Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $31.35 and last traded at $32.3730, with a volume of 81168 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PEGA shares. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.26. The company has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,894 shares in the company, valued at $100,566.50. This represents a 20.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 6,045 shares of company stock valued at $205,381 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 41.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,228 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Pegasystems by 55.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 628,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,732,000 after buying an additional 224,506 shares during the period. Bull Harbor Capital LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems during the first quarter worth about $254,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 18.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 47,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,011,000 after acquiring an additional 7,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Pegasystems by 23.8% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 108,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,628,000 after acquiring an additional 20,874 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.