Ethic Inc. Makes New $232,000 Investment in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Ethic Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,348 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 139.7% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 159.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 50.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 599 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth about $63,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.73, for a total value of $2,552,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 44,979,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,551,679,319.72. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total transaction of $270,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 72,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,662.40. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,600 shares of company stock valued at $12,002,082. 49.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA stock opened at $63.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.66 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.51. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.84 and a 52 week high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $381.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.05%.

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.