Pegasystems Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.02 (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.015 per share by the technology company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st.

Pegasystems has a payout ratio of 3.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Pegasystems to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.6%.

Pegasystems Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $69.52 on Friday. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $54.55 and a 1 year high of $113.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.66. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.83 and a beta of 1.25.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pegasystems will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 2,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.25, for a total value of $144,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,084,581.50. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total value of $70,560.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,563,006.59. This trade represents a 1.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,543 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,614 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PEGA shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.36.

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.