Brokerages Set Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target at $69.00

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.56.

A number of analysts have weighed in on PEGA shares. TheStreet raised Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $1,301,681.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,549,875.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 1,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $95,955.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,005.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $1,301,681.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669 over the last three months. Company insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 219.3% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 530 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA opened at $58.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.02 and a beta of 1.06. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $37.66 and a 1 year high of $69.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.41.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 39.30% and a net margin of 4.73%. Analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 16.90%.

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.