Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 296,385 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,623,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.35% of Pegasystems as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 637,999 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,462,000 after buying an additional 153,703 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,567,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 440.5% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 147,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,770,000 after purchasing an additional 120,090 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 468,393 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,654,000 after purchasing an additional 119,439 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,096,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PEGA. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Trading Up 5.7 %

Shares of PEGA opened at $71.99 on Friday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.55 and a 12 month high of $113.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $92.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.24. The firm has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 71.28 and a beta of 1.25.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total value of $2,437,470.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. This represents a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,528,043.58. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 81,842 shares of company stock valued at $6,282,587 in the last ninety days. Company 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.