Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Price Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $34.68 and traded as high as $36.53. Pegasystems shares last traded at $34.91, with a volume of 1,403,801 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEGA has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.90.

Pegasystems Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.63.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 6.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, Director Dianne Ledingham sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.15, for a total value of $34,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 38,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,307,262. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 39,627 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $1,417,457.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 95,225 shares in the company, valued at $3,406,198.25. This represents a 29.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 53,672 shares of company stock worth $1,921,657. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 21.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,597 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in Pegasystems by 1.4% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 22,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $936,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Pegasystems by 3.2% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 11,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Pegasystems by 2.2% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 12,709 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is an enterprise software company that develops applications for customer engagement, business process management and workflow automation. Its software is designed to help organizations manage complex operations, improve customer service and automate decision-making across departments and channels.

The company’s product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and process automation platform, as well as solutions for customer relationship management, customer service, sales automation, marketing, fraud detection and case management.