Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Short Interest Down 12.7% in May

by · The Markets Daily

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, a drop of 12.7% from the April 30th total of 1,730,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Pegasystems from $118.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $101.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.00.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on PEGA

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 17,713 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.36, for a total transaction of $1,582,833.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,920,793.20. The trade was a 45.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $2,234,295.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,247,614 shares in the company, valued at $1,223,373,261.02. This trade represents a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 127,087 shares of company stock valued at $10,299,146 in the last quarter. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pegasystems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 150.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 139.7% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 599 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA opened at $101.41 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.78. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $55.90 and a 1 year high of $113.67. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.41 and a beta of 1.14.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.06%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.83%.

About Pegasystems

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Stories