Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,540 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 309.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 130,281 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,422,000 after buying an additional 98,465 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 770.5% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 61,702 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,988,000 after buying an additional 54,614 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the first quarter valued at $209,000. Natixis boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 200.1% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 97,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,276,000 after acquiring an additional 64,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 633.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PEGA. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.44.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,437,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Richard H. Jones 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,437,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,752 shares of company stock valued at $294,838 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Pegasystems stock traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.72. The company had a trading volume of 698,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 520,552. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.66 and a 1 year high of $72.74. The company has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.02 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.36.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $323.55 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.41) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.63%.

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.