Strs Ohio Lowers Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Strs Ohio cut its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,815 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,445 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $772,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 946,109 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,227,000 after buying an additional 31,925 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the fourth quarter valued at $85,000. Oak Thistle LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 59.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 17,202 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 6,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,846 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at $1,549,875.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 1,504 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total transaction of $95,955.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,533 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,005.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,549,875.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669. Insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEGA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $58.88 on Thursday. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.66 and a twelve month high of $69.26. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.93 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 39.30%. The firm had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

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.