Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Insider Selling

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $32.00 and last traded at $33.7070, with a volume of 139751 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.50.

Specifically, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $58.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. KeyCorp set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.70.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.43 and a 200-day moving average of $48.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.62 and a beta of 0.88.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 321.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. EFG International AG bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.