Quadrature Capital Ltd Increases Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 770.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,702 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,614 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd owned about 0.07% of Pegasystems worth $3,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $209,000. Natixis lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 200.1% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 97,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,276,000 after purchasing an additional 64,744 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 633.9% in the first 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. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $1,161,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Pegasystems by 77.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 499,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,273,000 after purchasing an additional 218,599 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA traded down $2.05 on Friday, hitting $66.88. The company had a trading volume of 999,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 481,168. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.66 and a 52-week high of $71.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.56 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.30. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The business had revenue of $351.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.55 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.41) earnings per share. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 14.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, Director Sharon T. Rowlands bought 8,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.63 per share, with a total value of $504,218.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 30,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,966.73. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.88, for a total transaction of $608,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 369,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,504,779.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sharon T. Rowlands purchased 8,600 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.63 per share, with a total value of $504,218.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,966.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,504 shares of company stock valued at $1,069,794. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.86.

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.