Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Down 6.8% After Insider Selling

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) dropped 6.8% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $61.36 and last traded at $61.14. Approximately 459,071 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 1,835,110 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.59.

Specifically, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.73, for a total transaction of $2,552,850.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 44,979,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,551,679,319.72. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Wedbush increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.61.

Pegasystems Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.48 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.49 and a 200 day moving average of $51.54.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $381.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.05%.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Pegasystems by 2.0% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,550,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Pegasystems by 12.0% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 4,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Pegasystems by 2.2% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Pegasystems by 613.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 19,977 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at about $204,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc develops, markets, licenses, hosts, and supports enterprise software in the United States, rest of the Americas, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company provides Pega Infinity, a software portfolio comprising of Pega Customer Decision Hub, a real-time AI-powered decision engine to enhance customer acquisition and experiences across inbound, outbound, and paid media channels; Pega Customer Service to anticipate customer needs, connect customers to people and systems, and automate customer interactions to evolve the customer service experience, as well as to allow enterprises to deliver interactions across channels and enhance employee productivity; and Pega Platform, an intelligent automation software for increasing efficiency of clients’ processes and workflows.