Hodges Capital Management Inc. Takes $4.50 Million Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 61,605 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,503,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Pegasystems as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Pegasystems by 5.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,099 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 49.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,744 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PEGA. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wedbush raised 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. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total value of $189,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,840. This represents a 11.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total transaction of $71,139.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,489,226.40. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,415 shares of company stock worth $1,667,761. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA stock opened at $97.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.18. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.01 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.07 and a fifty-two week high of $97.94.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

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.