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

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

Pegasystems has a dividend payout ratio of 3.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

Pegasystems stock opened at $69.52 on Friday. Pegasystems has a fifty-two week low of $54.55 and a fifty-two week high of $113.67. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.83 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.66.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PEGA shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 17,247,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,223,373,261.02. This trade represents a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.25, for a total transaction of $144,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,084,581.50. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 81,543 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,614. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Company Profile

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.