Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Shares Purchased by Eagle Asset Management Inc.

Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 440.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 147,350 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 120,090 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Pegasystems worth $10,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the second quarter valued at $67,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 266.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 390,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $23,641,000 after acquiring an additional 284,095 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company's stock worth $33,381,000 after acquiring an additional 283,508 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company's stock worth $347,067,000 after acquiring an additional 250,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.90.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA traded up $2.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $91.52. The company had a trading volume of 409,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 527,859. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $44.07 and a one year high of $91.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.80 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $77.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.85.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 8.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $53,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at $142. This represents a 99.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.88, for a total transaction of $698,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 357,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,951,213.04. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,345 shares of company stock worth $2,507,284. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.