Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Given Market Outperform Rating at JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $110.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on PEGA. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $82.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.91.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $85.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.25 and a beta of 1.11. Pegasystems has a one year low of $48.51 and a one year high of $113.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.73.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 11.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total transaction of $211,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at $1,528,043.58. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total value of $70,560.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,563,006.59. The trade was a 1.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,003 shares of company stock valued at $1,346,086. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,281 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 6,480 shares in the last quarter. Shannon River Fund Management LLC grew its position in Pegasystems by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Shannon River Fund Management LLC now owns 798,356 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,407,000 after buying an additional 9,989 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at $66,542,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 398.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 702,838 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,505,000 after acquiring an additional 561,807 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.