Victory Capital Management Inc. Buys 542 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 60,383 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Pegasystems worth $4,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,067,000 after buying an additional 250,273 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the second quarter worth $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 7.9% in the second quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,399,000 after acquiring an additional 49,861 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,381,000 after purchasing an additional 283,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,304,000 after purchasing an additional 34,416 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PEGA. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted 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. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $91.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.80. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.07 and a twelve month high of $91.67. The company has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.80 and a beta of 1.06.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $53,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142. The trade was a 99.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total transaction of $43,824.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,345 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,284. 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.