Stifel Financial Corp Takes Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,391 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at approximately $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,399,000 after purchasing an additional 49,861 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,381,000 after purchasing an additional 283,508 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,304,000 after purchasing an additional 34,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 0.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 484,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.00, for a total value of $54,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,763,936. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total transaction of $43,824.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,914 shares of company stock worth $2,283,688 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.2 %

PEGA stock opened at $94.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.89. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.95 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.07 and a twelve month high of $97.94.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Pegasystems 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.