Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $90.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

PEGA has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a buy rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a neutral rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $72.33.

Pegasystems Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $61.80 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.37 and a beta of 1.06. Pegasystems has a 52-week low of $37.66 and a 52-week high of $69.26.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 45.00% and a net margin of 5.32%. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pegasystems will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.19%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.63%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,549,875.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,792 shares of company stock valued at $2,781,669. Insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 219.3% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 530 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 80.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently 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.