Brokerages Set Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) PT at $99.36

Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.36.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Pegasystems Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $72.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.12 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $93.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.34. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $54.55 and a 12-month high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid 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 0.16%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total transaction of $70,560.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,563,006.59. This represents a 1.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,342 shares of company stock worth $3,903,792 over the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,281 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 860,361 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,188,000 after purchasing an additional 164,986 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 825,762 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,983,000 after purchasing an additional 6,480 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 807,671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,275,000 after purchasing an additional 4,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shannon River Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 1.3% during the fourth 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. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.