Optas LLC Makes New Investment in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Optas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,140 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEGA. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 10,362.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 41,642 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,895,000 after purchasing an additional 41,244 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,889 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter worth approximately $761,000. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 87.9% during the 1st quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 45,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.22, for a total transaction of $2,619,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 45,024,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,621,318,472.08. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 2,544 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total value of $150,096.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 132,607 shares of company stock valued at $7,644,274. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pegasystems Stock Down 4.5%

PEGA opened at $53.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a PE ratio of 46.11 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.88. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.84 and a fifty-two week high of $61.00.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $384.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $345.07 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 42.42% and a net margin of 13.14%.Pegasystems’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Pegasystems from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.83.

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.