Pegasystems’ (PEGA) “Market Outperform” Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PEGA. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Pegasystems from $82.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.36.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA opened at $85.02 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.87. Pegasystems has a one year low of $54.55 and a one year high of $113.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.06 and a beta of 1.11.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total value of $189,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,456,840. The trade was a 11.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total value of $71,139.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,489,226.40. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,003 shares of company stock valued at $1,346,086. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Pegasystems by 189.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,347,000 after buying an additional 1,546,281 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 860,361 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,188,000 after acquiring an additional 164,986 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pegasystems by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 825,762 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,983,000 after purchasing an additional 6,480 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Pegasystems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 807,671 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,275,000 after purchasing an additional 4,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shannon River Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Shannon River Fund Management LLC now owns 798,356 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,407,000 after purchasing an additional 9,989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

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.