Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $36.84, but opened at $34.95. Pegasystems shares last traded at $35.4870, with a volume of 283,850 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEGA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered Pegasystems from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. William Blair cut Pegasystems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.40.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.9%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.91. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42 and a beta of 0.89.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $420.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.78%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total transaction of $252,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 104,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,776,088.12. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $41,191.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,105. This represents a 47.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 50,690 shares of company stock valued at $1,812,829 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,770,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 52.9% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,052,205 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,782,000 after buying an additional 363,896 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth about $31,905,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 117.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 814,062 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,427,000 after buying an additional 439,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,170,377 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,895,000 after acquiring an additional 33,643 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Company Profile

Pegasystems Inc develops enterprise software for customer engagement, workflow automation and business process management. Its solutions help organizations manage customer service, sales, marketing, operations and back-office processes across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and automation platform; Pega Customer Service and Pega Sales; Pega Customer Decision Hub for real-time, personalized customer engagement; and tools for case management, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence.