Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,245 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Pegasystems by 15,120.0% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 64.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 633.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter worth about $104,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $124,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, July 29th. William Blair upgraded Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.60.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $73.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.13 and a beta of 1.07. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.66 and a 52 week high of $74.40.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 49.62% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.41) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 14.63%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $54,067.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,211.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $54,067.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,211.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $24,951,213.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,203 shares of company stock worth $3,078,933. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.