Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Breaks Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s share price crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.28 and traded as low as $33.59. Pegasystems shares last traded at $34.11, with a volume of 2,024,282 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities set a $43.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Yorkville Ives began coverage on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Pegasystems from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.73.

Pegasystems Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.28.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.10). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 35.22% and a net margin of 16.86%. The company had revenue of $393.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $421.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 39,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total value of $1,417,457.79. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 95,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,406,198.25. This trade represents a 29.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios Kouninis sold 982 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.35, for a total transaction of $36,677.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,686.15. This represents a 49.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 60,756 shares of company stock valued at $2,171,155 over the last three months. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at $437,000. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 141.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 16,921 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 9,913 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 64.9% during the 3rd quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 97,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,240,000 after purchasing an additional 38,300 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. grew its position in Pegasystems by 9,969.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 3,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Company Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company that develops enterprise applications for customer engagement, workflow automation and business process management. Its technology helps organizations manage customer interactions, automate repetitive work, coordinate complex processes and make data-driven decisions across departments and channels.

The company’s portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and workflow platform, along with solutions for customer service, sales automation, marketing, decisioning and artificial intelligence.