Kestra Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,230 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 4,011 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in Pegasystems were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 110.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,567,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 88,554 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,353,000 after purchasing an additional 7,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 178,058 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $16,556,000 after purchasing an additional 80,495 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PEGA shares. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA traded down $3.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $77.89. 893,730 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,015,524. The company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.12 and a beta of 1.11. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $54.55 and a one year high of $113.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.16 and a 200 day moving average of $84.30.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.88%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 7,742 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $655,902.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,225,559.52. This represents a 34.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,745 shares of company stock worth $2,001,989. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pegasystems Company 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.