Principal Securities Inc. Has $26,000 Stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 150.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 278 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 166.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 70,432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,148,000 after buying an additional 44,035 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $310,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth about $604,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $382,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Pegasystems by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,099 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.36.

Pegasystems Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $78.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.73 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.12 and a 200 day moving average of $84.84. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.88%.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. The trade was a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of Pegasystems 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,245 shares of company stock worth $4,439,459. Corporate insiders own 50.10% 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.