Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. William Blair raised Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.60.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of PEGA stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $73.47. The stock had a trading volume of 232,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 539,784. Pegasystems has a 12-month low of $37.66 and a 12-month high of $74.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.60 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $69.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.54.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 49.62% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.41) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Pegasystems will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,211.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $54,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,211.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 15,271 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total value of $1,057,516.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 371,787 shares in the company, valued at $25,746,249.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,955 shares of company stock valued at $3,206,247. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $286,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,118,964 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $250,113,000 after buying an additional 114,848 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,008 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $346,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth about $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.