Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Bought by Essex Investment Management Co. LLC

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,881 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,790 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC owned about 0.05% of Pegasystems worth $4,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PEGA. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Pegasystems by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 819,282 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,895,000 after acquiring an additional 25,901 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Pegasystems by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 637,999 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,462,000 after acquiring an additional 153,703 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Pegasystems by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 468,393 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,654,000 after acquiring an additional 119,439 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Pegasystems by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 323,735 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,172,000 after acquiring an additional 36,379 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 322,424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,566,000 after purchasing an additional 11,102 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PEGA shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.36.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total value of $2,437,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,353,860.68. This represents a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total transaction of $28,973.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,542 shares of company stock valued at $4,490,746 in the last quarter. Insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $75.98 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.37 and a 200-day moving average of $85.28. The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.23 and a beta of 1.25. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.55 and a 1-year high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.88%.

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.