Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. raised their target price on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $91.52 on Thursday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $44.07 and a 1 year high of $91.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a PE ratio of 66.80 and a beta of 1.06.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total transaction of $70,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,505 shares in the company, valued at $3,274,417.05. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $53,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $142. This represents a 99.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,345 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,284 in the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,067,000 after purchasing an additional 250,273 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at about $436,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Pegasystems by 110.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 309.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 130,281 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,422,000 after acquiring an additional 98,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.