Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $82.50 and last traded at $82.28, with a volume of 17182 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PEGA shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. William Blair raised Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Loop Capital raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.90.

Pegasystems Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 59.18 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.17.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $53,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $53,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 8,288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.23, for a total value of $673,234.24. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,057,172.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,565 shares of company stock worth $2,998,565 in the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter worth $758,000. Duality Advisers LP increased its position in Pegasystems by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 13,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 113.2% during the first quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 39,569 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after buying an additional 21,008 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 0.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 82,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,333,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $2,038,000. 46.89% of the stock is 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.