New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 1,044 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,451 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,044 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $1,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the fourth quarter worth $85,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 11.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $262,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $61.03 on Friday. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $37.66 and a one year high of $69.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 74.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.31.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 45.00%. The company had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 14.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.34, for a total value of $45,375.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,188 shares in the company, valued at $2,364,603.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.34, for a total transaction of $45,375.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,603.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,544 shares of company stock worth $3,556,625 in the last ninety days. 50.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEGA. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

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.