Capital Fund Management S.A. Acquires 3,320 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Capital Fund Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,850 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $1,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in 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 last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 16,230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 4,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 84,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,829,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.36.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $139,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 21,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,481,838.75. The trade was a 8.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $2,437,470.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. This trade represents a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 80,791 shares of company stock valued at $6,134,554 in the last ninety days. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pegasystems Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $69.66 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.26 and its 200 day moving average is $85.42. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.97 and a beta of 1.22. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.55 and a twelve month high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. Equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.015 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.09%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 11.88%.

Pegasystems 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.