Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a growth of 26.8% from the January 31st total of 1,230,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 749,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PEGA shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $2,437,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 17,308,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. The trade was a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total transaction of $211,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at $1,528,043.58. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,542 shares of company stock valued at $4,490,746 in the last three months. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pegasystems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 110.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at $9,567,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Trading Down 2.2 %

PEGA traded down $1.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $77.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 344,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 593,482. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $95.11 and its 200-day moving average is $85.17. Pegasystems has a 1 year low of $54.55 and a 1 year high of $113.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.64 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 11.88%.

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.