New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 45,233 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 48.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,966 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,233 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.16% of Pegasystems worth $12,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 150.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Pegasystems by 5.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,099 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Pegasystems by 49.1% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Stock Down 4.4 %

Pegasystems stock opened at $77.89 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.12 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.66. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 7,742 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $655,902.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,225,559.52. This trade represents a 34.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total transaction of $71,139.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,489,226.40. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,745 shares of company stock worth $2,001,989. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

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.