Kestra Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,219 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,974 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PEGA. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter worth $27,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 49.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Pegasystems by 15,120.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PEGA. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.90.

Pegasystems Price Performance

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $94.97 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $80.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.07. The company has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a PE ratio of 69.32 and a beta of 1.06. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.07 and a 1 year high of $97.00.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 8.76%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total transaction of $70,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,417.05. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.88, for a total value of $698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 357,058 shares in the company, valued at $24,951,213.04. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,663 shares of company stock worth $2,387,862 in the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.