Weiss Asset Management LP Purchases Shares of 145,950 Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 145,950 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,212,000. Weiss Asset Management LP owned about 0.09% of Pegasystems at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. EFG International AG purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Pegasystems by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 302.2% during the 1st quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in Pegasystems by 316.6% during the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 704 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $26.82 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.70. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 0.87. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.10 and a fifty-two week high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The company had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is presently 6.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,570,784.50. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $26,062.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares in the company, valued at $100,566.50. The trade was a 20.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613 over the last three months. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PEGA. Citizens Jmp lowered Pegasystems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson set a $32.00 target price on Pegasystems in a research report on Friday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.10.

Pegasystems Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.