Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target Raised to $70.00

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its target price hoisted by Rosenblatt Securities from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PEGA. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Pegasystems stock opened at $66.27 on Thursday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $29.84 and a 1 year high of $67.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.68. The company has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.48 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. The firm had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Pegasystems’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is presently 8.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.73, for a total transaction of $2,552,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 44,979,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,551,679,319.72. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total transaction of $270,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,662.40. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,728 shares of company stock valued at $9,625,920. 49.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 236.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,584,000 after buying an additional 2,836,733 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at about $151,149,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 255.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $157,393,000 after buying an additional 2,089,375 shares during the last quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 76.6% in the second quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,542,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $191,767,000 after buying an additional 1,536,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 101.3% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,187,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,410,000 after buying an additional 1,100,733 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.