Barclays Cuts Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Price Target to $66.00

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $68.00 to $66.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. DA Davidson reissued a neutral rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $70.56.

Pegasystems Stock Down 0.9 %

PEGA opened at $58.40 on Monday. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $37.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.25 and a beta of 1.06.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 39.30%. The company had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total transaction of $48,278.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,940 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,148. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total value of $48,278.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,564,148. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.39, for a total transaction of $633,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 379,658 shares in the company, valued at $24,066,520.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669. 50.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $209,000. FCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,497,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 327,107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $21,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $346,000. 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.