Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Raises Position in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 140.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,977 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,827 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Pegasystems by 139.7% in the 1st 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. increased its stake in Pegasystems by 159.8% in the 2nd 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 stake in 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 purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on PEGA shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.61.

Pegasystems Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $63.64 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.84. The company has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.71 and a beta of 1.08. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.84 and a 12-month high of $68.10.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 is 8.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.73, for a total value of $2,552,850.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 44,979,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,551,679,319.72. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 14,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total value of $942,441.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 118,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,531,856.60. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 203,600 shares of company stock worth $12,002,082. Company insiders own 49.70% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

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.