Xponance Inc. Raises Holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,122 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 487 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Pegasystems by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 16,230 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,513,000 after acquiring an additional 4,011 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Pegasystems by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 84,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,829,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $75.77 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.66. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.55 and a twelve month high of $113.67. The company has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.02 and a beta of 1.25.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.015 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.08%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of 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, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.00, for a total transaction of $188,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,547,804. This represents a 10.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total transaction of $70,560.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,563,006.59. This represents a 1.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,543 shares of company stock worth $6,253,614 in the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.